


Senior Year

by LutaHatathli



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, One Year Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-25 10:10:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21354559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LutaHatathli/pseuds/LutaHatathli
Summary: This is a Boy/Boy AU of the Haikyuu world a year later. Everyone's favorite characters are a year older, all third years are graduated, and there is probably a lot of ooc.This is written from Futakuchi Kenji's point of view. He is a Senior in high school, team Captain, and pretty subdued from when he was merely an Ace. He now takes his responsibilities seriously, and works hard to keep everything together. Then he has a series of awkward and smile inducing encounters with Nekoma's favorite mascot, Kozume Kenma. A very unlikely pair, but for some reason, they find themselves drawn to each. (Surprising, right?)I welcome any comments~
Relationships: Futakuchi Kenji & Kozume Kenma, Futakuchi Kenji/Kozume Kenma
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	1. Vice Captain

**Author's Note:**

> Probably a slow burn, I have 12 chapters written at the time I am posting this first chapter. But once things start rolling, you can bet you cute bottoms that I end up writing far too much with too little sleep. Just takes longer to edit than it does to lose myself in the story as I write. 
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys this rare pair I am obsessed with. ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

Kenji Futakuchi, 3rd year High School Senior, eighteen years old, Captain of Date Tech High School's volleyball team, and suffering. 

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, KOGANEGAWA! BEND YOUR KNEES!" I growled from across the gym at the 2nd year dimwit. Another groan came when I saw Mai coming over with that look in her eyes. "What can I do for you, Mai?" I asked with a fake smile.

She came up to me with an arched brow, "So do you plan on being cooperative today?" 

"With what?" 

"PICK-ING YOUR VICE CAP-TAIN!" She enunciated each syllable. 

Rolling my eyes, I planted my hands on my hips. "I told you, just give it to Aone." 

"And I told you that he adamantly refuses because he only wants to focus on playing." We both lost count of how many times we've had this argument. 

Sighing, I scrubbed a hand through my already sweaty and messy hair. "That lazy bastard. Fine, do you have any suggestions? Aone is the best we have and the most experienced." 

Mai hummed a second as she glanced over our few members. "How about Onegawa or Sakunami?" 

"Tarou? I think he would rather sleep, plus isn't he rather new?" I asked, examining the boy currently hitting chance balls from the top of the net and throwing out small advices to the others about their form. "But then again, you have a point." I shook my head. "No, I can't just force it on him when he least expects it." I sighed and looked over to Sakunami practicing receives with Koga. "Although he has grown a lot and has a strong sense of leadership, Saku-chan still has a lot to learn since he is new to volleyball. He's played in a game before, but that was far too soon for all of them. Let me talk with Aone one more time, and if he still says no, I'll resign to asking whoever you suggest the most." 

Mai looked up at me, "Do you only want Aone because he's so much more experienced?" 

"Partly..." I glanced down, "Okay, mostly, yes. He has the same experience I do, so I know I can trust him to lead the same way, too." 

Mai made a sound like she knew something more than I did. 

"What?" 

"Nothing. Let me know how your talk with Aone goes." She said and walked off a few feet before half turning and calling back, "I'll be out the rest of the day recruiting, so don't scare off anyone who stops by!" 

I waved at her dismissively before going back to coaching the team because our actual coach wasn't here for some reason today. By the time the sun was setting, I called it quits for the day and I was the last one in the showers after helping Mai clean up. I was almost done when Tarou came back into the locker rooms to call for me. 

"Captain? You still in the showers?" 

"Yeah." I called back from behind the curtain.

"Coach has called us for a meeting before we go home, he said he'll wait for us in the gym."

"Alright, be there soon." I said, and after a few minutes, I was mostly dry, dressed, and still half rubbing the corner of my towel in my hair when I walked into the gym. Instead of joining the others on the floor, I moved to stand by the coach but he scolded me for not drying my hair properly and told me to sit, so I did. I sat in front of Aone, so I knew it was him that started helping me dry my hair. No one thought it weird, Aone was big and scary looking, but inside he was sweet and motherly, and also my childhood friend, so no one really cared when Aone wordlessly did odd things for me. 

Coach Oiwake cleared his throat before speaking to us. "As you all know the beginning of this month marked the beginning of a new season. For you third years, this marks your final season to play high school volleyball, so continue to work hard on educating your lower classmen because they'll carry the name Dateko after you. Mai and I are working hard to recruit new members as well, and so far we will have three first years joining before the end of the week." There was a pause as some members got happy over the prospect of new faces in the gym. "There will also be a few changes to our regular training schedule." 

"What's going to change?" I asked. 

"Well, do you remember how Karasuno went on all those off campus training camps to other prefectures? And they were even invited to train with some top Tokyo teams as well." 

"Of course, it's how they got so good so fas- Oh- OH!" I leaned forward, excited for what I was about to hear. 

"Yes, it's as you suspect, Captain. Dateko was recognized in the competition last year and we were also invited to several of these meets as part of Miyagi prefecture schools. It appears Karasuno, Dateko, and Aoba Johsai were all invited to the first big meet of the season in Tokyo at the Nekoma training grounds. Nekoma is a large school with a gym that can house multiple teams at once. If this pleases you, then all you have to do is work harder and don't fail any tests. We are Dateko! The Iron Wall! We'll show everyone how unbreakable we are!"  
I stood up as everyone cheered, and they quieted as I took our soldiers stance in front of them. Everyone stood up and mimicked me; back rigid, arms tightly clasped behind and legs solid on the floor. "Take every opportunity to play while we're there, learn your strengths and weaknesses while fighting so many different varieties of teams and players! If we lose, we'll take every punishment with dignity!" Everyone hollered and cheered until coach yelled for us to shut up. 

After the rest of the announcements for training camps, recruits, and schedules we were dismissed. Walking home, I was the only one who didn't walk in the direction of my home. I walked with Aone who dropped me off at the nearby auto repair shop for my part time job. He was also the one to pick me up at nearly midnight every night I had a shift. On those nights I also went to his house. We grew up in the same neighborhood but last year, my family fell on some hard times and we had to move across town to a small apartment and I had to get a job over the summer. 

Tonight I took the opportunity to tell my boss when I wouldn't be available due to school. He was understanding, thankfully, but mostly because his daughter went to the school and he supported anyone who worked hard at education. He also tried to set me up with his daughter, but luckily I avoided the topic by saying that it wouldn't be appropriate to date his daughter because of our age difference even if it was just two years. In two years I would be twenty and that kind of relationship would be illegal. 

At Aone's house after work, freshly bathed after eating his mom's cooking, and wearing pajamas I left here. I actually had a drawer of clothes all my own in Aone's room because I was here so often. I was lounging on his bed reading while he did homework when I remembered the conversation about vice captains with Mai. 

"So hey, Aone, why don't you want to be my vice captain?" I asked without really looking up, but I did see him tense up a bit from the corner of my eye. 

"Because... l would have to give up my spot on the court." he replied meekly.

I looked up, confusion plain on my face. "What- who told you that?" 

Aone shook his head. 

"Is it because of the responsibility factor?" I asked, guessing based on my knowledge of my friends personality.

Aone nodded, "Captains and vice captains have a lot to do." 

I hummed and dug out a bag of gummies from my school bag. "It is true that I have a lot to do, but right now me and Mai are sharing vice captain duties, too. It's really not that bad once the number of people carrying the load is spread out. I also promise not to take you away from your spot on the court."  
Aone turned to me and stared for a long time before voicing what was on his mind. "I can't help you, Kenji. Please choose someone else." 

I closed my eyes and sat up on his bed with a sigh. "Look, Aone. I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't think you could do it. You are my first, and basically only choice for vice captain. Mai suggest Tarou and Sakunami, but I can't see them stepping up or handling the job like you would. The vice captain is there to reinforce order and law on our court. They are there to lead when I can't. You've proven countless times to be twice the leader I am, and I trust you more than anyone." I could see I was gaining a reaction from Aone as his cheeks tinged pink from being praised. 

"These training camps that are coming up, I'm going to need your help, especially if we are gaining new members with no experience. We have two weeks to pound these guys into proper Iron Walls. If any of them are half as good as you, then I know we stand a chance against Karasuno, Seijoh, and anyone else who thinks they can tear our defenses down!" I got up and stepped up to Aone with my fist held out to him. "So I'm asking one last time; can I count on you, Aone?"

Aone slowly, but surely pressed his fist to mine. "Are you sure?" 

I smiled. "For our last year together, I wouldn't have it any other way." 

That line tore through Aone's apprehension and he gave me a proper fist bump. "Okay, I'll do it." 

~

With the rest of the week everyone was happy to hear Aone finally accepted his position at my side as we welcomed four new recruits. Three team members and Mai happened to find a first year girl named Reiko Takawa to eventually replace her as the club manager. Reiko also happened to be the twin sister of one of our recruits, Reiji Takawa. It made calling them difficult, so everyone was on first name basis with both of them by the end of the first day. The other two recruits was a tall burly 1st year named Hisaki Yosano and another one with an attitude problem, Katashi Terada. They seemed close with each other, but it was pretty obvious that Yosano acted as a buffer to his friends anger problems. 

On the third day of the new recruits, the peace of the gym and team was tested when Terada suddenly lost it and picked a fight with Koganegawa. By the time I turned and spotted the two, Koga was on the floor holding his cheek, and Yosano was manhandling Terada with some impressive displays of strength. 

I ran over to the fight. "YOSANO! TAKE HIM OUTSIDE NOW!" With my loud voice, the gym got quiet save for Terada's struggles as he was literally carried outside by his apologetic human straight jacket. Aone and Fukiage helped Koga up, and to get him to a chair. Mai was waiting and ready with an ice pack. "Koga, tell me exactly what happened, and don't you dare leave out any details."  
Koganegawa described what happened, and was backed up by Fukiage. Apparently, Koga and Fukiage were telling Terada, Yosano and Reiji about why we are called the Iron Wall and Koganegawa made a dumb comment about Terada being too short for the wall and got decked for it.

"Jeeez... What a pain in the ass." I sighed as I was now walking across the gym toward the door Yosano had carried his friend out of. Once outside, I found both boys by the fountains, Terada thankfully cooling his head under the water and Yosano cracking a joke and laughing at it by himself. I went up to the two and crossed my arms. "Yosano-kun, you can go inside." 

"Uh, Sir, Captain, I don't think-" 

I nearly glared at the poor first year, "Go inside, Yosano." I commanded. 

He only gave his friend a quick glance before running inside. Once alone, I did a quick survey to make sure we were also alone in the courtyard before grabbing Terada by his shirt collar. I didn't give any time for him to react as I shoved him backward into the gyms outer wall. "Listen and listen well, Katashi Terada. I will kick you off this team here and now, your skills be damned, be damned if you have a friend on the team. I will NOT tolerate someone like you on this team. If you can't grow up and act like a civil human being and a member of this team, then you simply have no place here." I let go of him in a dismissive way. "Clean up your act, cool your head, apologize to the entire team and Koganegawa for being a dick and disrupting the peace of the team. THEN I will consider letting you stay on the team. Prove yourself to me and the others that you are a team player or get out." I left him there with no room to retort or explain himself.

When I came back in the gym was quiet, including myself, save for the sounds of balls, sneakers, and instructions being called out. I knew no one heard me from outside, but I also knew that most of them knew what it was like to see me truly pissed off. It didn't happen often or as quickly, but when the stability of my team was in danger, that's when my buttons get pressed. Afterwards, I know I'm quiet and hard to approach, but I just needed the extra time to cool my own head off. Only Aone was brave enough to talk to me. 

"Mh." He said with a hand on my shoulder. 

"Yeah, man, I'm fine. Just give me a few, and keep an eye on Terada-kun for me." I replied, being one of the few people in the world to understand this silent giant's grunts.

Aone nodded and took some of his first steps into authority as Vice Captain that day. He was more willing to help me when I wasn't in the best of conditions. Terada returned after a while, but stayed close to his friend for the rest of the day. It was only at the meeting that night that Terada said anything to anyone else. 

He stood up at the end of the meeting when Coach Oiwake asked if anyone had any questions. Yosano was whispering encouragements to his friend in the silence, too.  
"I- I'm sorry! For... getting angry and hitting Koganegawa....-Senpai. It won't happen again, so..." 

"Go on, man, like a Band-Aid, all at once." Yosano cheered in a whisper even though we could all hear. 

"Shut up Saki and I will." Terada stayed in a bowed position, whisper-yelling and using a nickname that made Yosano pout with a sour face. "I would really appreciate it if I can still be on the team." 

I stepped forward, arms crossed, and eyes piercing down at the first year. "I'll tell you what, if you're willing to work together on this team, then you can use your rage to our advantage. Use that on the court, use it to intimidate our rivals, and use it to pump up our guys when we're knocked down. Even if you aren't a player on the court, use it. But never use it against your own teammates." 

I stepped back, talking to everyone now. "As Date Tech's Iron wall, we are stronger than anyone else. We are the Iron Wall, but what many don't know about us is that there are more than just one wall in our arsenal. Each one of us are a piece of that wall; able to switch places and rearrange ourselves to fit our own needs. If even one section is weak then we all crumble." I stared at Terada as I spoke now, "THAT'S what it means to be part of the Iron Wall. If you are weak, then the rest of us are, too. If you are strong, then the rest of us are." I took our signature stance; rigid back and hands clasped tightly behind my back. "SO ARE YOU STRONG OR WEAK, DATEKO?!" 

"STRONG!!" Everyone yelled in unison as they sprung up to their feet and replicated my stance. 

"I SAID, ARE YOU ALL STRONG IRON WALL'S OR WEAK DIRT MOUNDS TO BE TRAMPLED ON?!" I nearly growled that last part. 

"WE ARE STRONG! WE ARE IRON! WE ARE DATEKO!!" 

"THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO HEAR, NOW GO!" 

"GO, GO DATEKO! LET'S GO!" 

I riled everyone up with the yelling, but it was Oiwake who settled things by interrupting us. "How about you go home, ya bunch of Neanderthals." 

~

We third years whipped our boys into shape quickly. It helped that the second years were all used to it by now, and that two of the first years, Terada and Yosano, were already in pretty good shape. However, Reiji Takawa was still finding his place on the team, so I was having him work with each member individually to find his strengths and weaknesses. He was tall, so he was good at getting above the net, but his strength behind a block left a lot to be desired. His receives were sloppy, and half the time his serves hit the net.  
Two days before the first training camp I decided to work one on one with him and even gave him homework that his sister could help him with. Receiving and serving a certain number of times each night before the training camp. He ended up looking depressed and with his sister's help I got him to open up a bit.

"Captain Futakuchi, I don't think I'm cut out for this, my dad was on Dateko's volleyball team when he was my age, so I really wanted to join, but I'm no good at anything." 

"So far." I said and smiled at the confused glances of the twins. "So far you are not good at anything. It hurts to hear that from someone else, but it's a fact we all have to face at one point or another. You're still new to this, Reiji-kun. You still have a lot more to learn just like we all did and still do, but that's what we're here for; to work together to build our strengths. Once you find your strength, then you'll never look back again." I patted his head. "it's always good to work on the basics even as a professional player, so you don't have to rush, but don't give up." 

Reiko was clinging to her brother and nearly in tears. "That was such a beautiful speech, Captain! And ReiRei, maybe we can get Papa to teach you some things, too!" 

I blushed a bit out of embarrassment, "Ha ha, thanks, I think. You, too, Reiko-chan, help your brother work on his basics at home and you'll learn a lot about the game as well." 

They nodded to me and ran off to practice and do their jobs around the gym. I mostly coached, but when I demonstrated a proper spike, serve, or block, I had Aone and Koga help me because their heights were intimidating. These were the times I felt I had the best of the new members' attention. 

~

On the day before the camp, Coach Oiwake informed us that Karasuno would be leaving that night by bus, so we were too. No one was happy about sleeping on a bus, but it would give us an extra day at Nekoma High than if we traveled in the morning. We got last minute updates about the Training camp, too. Four teams would be participating in the camp, Karasuno High, Date Tech, Nekoma High, and Fukurodani Academy. According to Coach, Fukurodani is basically a completely new team now since most their members last year were third years. 

Coach had the help of the club advisor driving the bus all night, and I woke up when we stopped at a gas station. Most others were still asleep, but I looked up when I saw a second bus arrive and watched a couple of crows I recognized venture outside to stretch. 

Grinning, I got up as well, waking Aone up beside me as I did. I simply pointed out the window and Aone followed me. We were barely off the bus when Shoyo Hinata saw us and ran up. I half though he would jump on Aone, and apparently so did Aone because he braced for it. At some point the two had become close texting friends, and often talked to each other. As opposed to the way they would always awkwardly greet each other before with formal bows.  
"AONE! YOU'RE HERE, T- OW!" Hinata rubbed the back of his head and glare at his partner. 

"Shut up, dumbass, people are slee*yawns*ping." Kageyama didn't have his usual flare or bristles, even I could see that. 

"I was only happy to see my friend, tiredyama. jeez, no need to be so rough." Hinata pouted.

"Whatever. I'm going back to sleep, don't get lost, idiot." Kageyama said and went back to Karasuno's bus. 

"Well, he's as friendly as always." I muttered before my attention was drawn back to the short middle blocker. "I figured you guys were ahead of us because we left so late, Hinata-kun." 

"Naah, we had to wait for Yachi to get permission from her mom to come with us, apparently she couldn't reach her mom by phone all day and had to go track her down." 

"Did everything work out?" Aone asked. 

Hinata nodded happily, "Yes! Yachi's mom dropped her phone in some water, so that's why she wasn't answering." 

"That's good, man, how about new members, did you guys manage to find any?" I asked. 

Hinata nodded, "five people joined at the beginning of the year! They all said they saw us on TV and wanted to be part of a strong team!" his eyes were shining from being praised so much. 

I couldn't blame the guy for boasting, I watched those matches, I saw how hard they fought. "That's awesome, I'm sure more will join." I looked up when I saw someone exit the Karasuno bus. I vaguely recognized him, too. 

"Hinata, start saying your goodbyes, we're about to head out again. You'll see them when we arrive, so don't worry." 

Hinata turned to his teammate, "YES, CAPTAIN!" He hopped up as he turned, but stopped to wave back at us. "See you later, Aone! Bye bye Captain Futakuchi!" 

We both waved to him and I stepped forward to shake Karasuno's new captain's hand. "Hi, I don't think we've been properly introduced, I'm Kenji Futakuchi, captain of Dateko, and this is Aone, our vice captain." 

He shook my hand with a smile. "Hello, I'm Chikara Ennoshita, It's nice to finally meet you properly, Captain Futakuchi. I remember you being a bit wilder last year." 

I laughed a bit, "Yeah, it seems my own team noticed that as well. After being given the position of captain, I had more to think about than just being the best."

"ENNOSHITA!" Coach Ukai yelled from the front of their bus, "Time to go, wrap things up."  
"Yes, sir!" he called back before smiling at us again, "I hope to catch up more with you later, then." 

"Same, Ennoshita-san." I replied and dropped my hand from his that I hadn't actually noticed the grip getting tighter. 

He bowed his head slightly as he turned, "Until tomorrow." 

Once Everyone was back on their respective buses, we headed off again, this time our bus followed Karasuno's since they've made the trip before. It was the middle of the night and I was excited! I wanted to play. I wanted to play volleyball so bad that it was making my body vibrate with tension. 

"Mh." 

I looked up at Aone sitting next to me. "I'm fine, I just want to feel a ball in my hands quickly." I blinked when Aone got up and went to the back of the bus. When he returned he placed a volley ball in my lap with a very pleased grunt. 

I laughed quietly and thanked him as I hugged the ball. I only chuckled more when Aone, pleased that he could please me, turned in his seat slightly to sleep again. "Boo, some friend you are. You only wanted me to shut up so you can sleep." I whispered as I stared at him, but soon I turned away to stare out the window. Watching tiny lights in the distance flicker and fade as the bus drove onward. 

I wasn't sure when I fell asleep, but when Aone shook me awake it was gray outside. Not even the sun was awake at this time. Everyone, Dateko and Karasuno alike, dragged our tired asses off our buses and everyone carried their own bags inside. We were greeted by Nekoma’s assistant coach, Naoi. He told us the basic rules and then gave each of our coaches print outs with everyone's sleeping schedules and rooms. 

Yosano spoke up out of turn with a half dead Terada leaning on his back. "Why not just stick us all in one room, why separate us?" 

Oiwake answered him, "Because it teaches tolerance for one, and two, this camp isn't only about training, it's about creating bonds with other teams and their players."  
Yosano was apparently too tired to ask anymore, but seemed thankful when he and Terada were put in the same room. Each room was split by year, but it was painfully obvious that the rules for that would be broken as I spotted a first year crow going into the second years room. At this point I didn't care where I slept as long as I could sleep more while it was still dark out. With just third years and managers left, we were shown to our room and asked to be quiet as we got ready for bed. 

The teachers and coaches left with the club managers and the first thing I did was pull out a futon and place it in the first clear spot I could find in the dark. I was wearing my gym clothes, so I didn't bother changing, I just took off the jacket and my socks before crawling into bed. Aone was doing the same beside me as I stretched. 

"You're so slow, Aone." I whispered and quietly chuckled at his small sound as I rolled over. I felt my heart leap when I was met with two large glowing eyes. *No, not glowing,* it was light from his phone shining up. "O-Oh, sorry, did I wake you?" I asked, and I could vaguely recognize this person, obviously from Nekoma, but I never paid much attention to them since I personally never played against them. 

He shook his head, blonde dyed hair swaying from the movement. 

I blinked, *was he already awake?* Not wanting to pry, I reached a hand out to him. "I'm Dateko's Captain, Kenji Futakuchi." 

"We'll meet again tomorrow, you know." He said, still not moving out of his blanket cocoon.

"I know, but I'm meeting you now." I couldn't hold back a large yawn and covered my mouth with my other hand. 

When my eyes were shut from the yawn, I felt a hand finally take mine. "Kenma Kozume, Nekoma’s Vice Captain." he introduced himself before pulling his hand back. 

I pulled my arm back as well and shifted it to fold under my pillow. "Nice to meet you Kozume-san. Good night." 

"Good night." he replied back softly, but my eyes were already closed.


	2. More Balls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just happy to be posting this on Kenji's birthday. Plus, I do enjoy me some protective Kenji~

Morning came too soon, and I was apparently the last and hardest one to wake up. Also, there was an unspoken rule I didn't know about that the last one to wake up would be pranked. 

I woke to muffled voices and laughter and an unfamiliar weight on top of me. Somewhere in my groggy mind I realized it was pillows on top of me, but... so many. 

"Mnhhg..." *Hot... it's too hot!* I sat up like a jack knife, “too hot!” I growled while throwing pillows and blankets off of me with intent to murder each one. 

The whole room erupted with laughter. I turned to find a bunch of faces I didn't know and some I did. All laughing at me and I couldn't help feeling embarrassed for a second before flinging one of the pillows at Obara who was one of the ones laughing the hardest. “Shut up, asshole.”

"Mnh." 

A small sound came out from under the pillows beside me, it startled me enough that I wasn't sure I heard right. Then my eyes widened as a small half blonde head popped out to gasp for air before he fully sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

My alarm came from how close he was to me compared to last night and the fact that he was under the pillows with me. I didn't even know why this startled me so much, besides him being only a few inches from me, but apparently I wasn't the only one.

"Dude! Kenma-san was under there?!" Someone said from behind me. 

"Yeah, I mean, it couldn't be helped, right? he rolled out of his futon close to Dateko's Captain." 

Kenma was looking up now, more like glaring though. He looked exhausted and ready to kill. "I'm not collateral damage, leave me out of your stupid pranks." He grumbled and got up to his feet. He stumbled over a few pillows, but got out of the mountain to go grab his bag and left the now silent room. 

I, on the other hand, was still in the mountain, and feeling like I just witness to what was possibly a zombie come to life. Then I turned to Aone who stood an innocent few feet away. Without a word I grabbed a pillow and threw it at his head as hard as I could before standing up. "Better clean this up before the Coaches see." I warned the rest of the room before following Kozume-san's example and grabbing my things to headed out to the look for the showers. I spotted Kozume down the hall talking to someone else and decided my best bet would be to follow him. 

Thankfully, I didn't have to awkwardly interrupt anything and could just follow the short vice-captain at a normal unawkward distance. As I showered I heard others coming in and filling the stalls, so I hurried to rinse off, dry myself and tuck a towel around my hips before leaving to go to the sinks. 

While brushing my teeth, I dug through my bag with my other hand. I hated it, but unlike some other guys my age I had to shave every stupid day or I ended up looking like a scraggly old man. "I forgot my shaving cream..." I mumbled and before I could find an alternative a can of expensive looking shaving gel popped up beside me.

"Hey!" 

I looked up to see Kozume beside me brushing his teeth as well, and one of his teammates on the other side looking disgruntled about his shaving gel being stolen. "Uh..." 

"Oh, shut up, Lev. You can't even grow facial hair yet, you don't need it." Kozume growled at the boy who was likely the tallest in the room, and probably everyone else not in the bathrooms at this moment.

"But- But Kenma-san, I heard somewhere if you shave it comes back thicker, right?" Lev was still whining.

I raised an eyebrow and by Kozume-san's shift in stance I felt he had the same expression. "Are you that dumb? That isn't even remotely true. Just let Futakuchi-san use it, he obviously needs it." 

"I- uh, I can just use soap, so it's fine, really." I said, offering the can back to the taller boy.

Lev sighed, "No, go ahead and use it, it's new, so I haven't used it yet. The only thing I can grow is one little chest hair." he actually pointed it out. "See?"

Kenma wasted not a second to reach up, pinch that one hair, and yank it out by the root. "And now it's gone." 

I snorted... hard. I wasn't the only one, several others around us had paused to watch the interaction and now were basically rolling on the ground dying. Literally, I heard someone wheeze heavily and that broke my defenses, making me laugh out loud with them. All while Lev cried out in pain and rubbed the spot where the hair had been deeply rooted. The whole center of his chest was turning bright red. 

"Why are you so mean, Kenma-san?!" Lev cried and looked down sadly at his chest. 

"What are you worried about? You're half Russian, when you get older you'll have more body hair than everyone combined in this room." Kozume said after rinsing his mouth out. 

I could see Lev still pouting in the mirrors as I applied the shaving gel-turned-foam to my face. Trying not to get any more involved, but I also saw Lev smile through the mirrors before saying something even I thought was more dumb than possibly anything else he could say just then. 

"Oh, I get it! You're just jealous because you're body is hairless. Right, Kenma-san?" Lev said with a smile.

I had my razor half pulled through the first swipe and I had to drop it quickly into the sink to catch Kozume who had backlash. He kicked his teammates shin hard and barefoot, which made him have visible instant regrets as he cringed through the pain but ended up slipping on the wet floor in the process of it all.   
Lev was rubbing his shin now and safely holding onto his sink while Kozume used me to help him stand up while holding his toes in one hand. 

"I'm going to kill you today, Lev." Kozume growled.

"Wha-!"

"Twice as many diving drills as everyone else!" 

"WHAT?! Why? What'd I do?!" Lev cried. 

Kozume stood up, shrugged off my hands and grabbed up his things quickly. "For being disrespectful!" Kozume answered only after he was ready to leave the shower room and go back to the lockers to change. He made it a few steps before he stopped, everyone quiet and watching with anticipation now. He turned slightly and looked at me before bowing slightly, "Sorry for the noise." Then he left.

"N-no problem..." I was at a bit of a loss at what just happened, but now eyes were on me and I just felt uncomfortable so I turned back to the mirror started shaving my face again. The noise returned soon after and people went on with their business since the show was over. I was nearly done shaving when the space beside me was filled again, this time by Sakunami. 

"Good Morning, Captain." He said before he began brushing his teeth. 

"Good morning." 

"I heard there was a fight earlier." he stated, glancing up at me, and I was reminded that Sakunami had a secret passion for gossip. 

"Nah, just an underclassman getting what he deserved." I replied, trying to leave out details. 

"Oh, was it one of our guys? I heard from Obara that you got mad because they pranked you this morning." Sakunami said around his toothbrush.

"News travels fast when you're around, doesn't it?" I asked before rinsing my face off and feeling for any stray hairs. 

"Not really..." Sakunami replied, leaning away from me. 

"Well, it wasn't our guys or anything serious, so don't worry about it." I pat his shoulder before grabbing up my things and leaving to go get dressed for a day of hard training and more than likely, headaches.

I walked to the back of the lockers in the adjacent room where I had stashed me things. Once I was half dressed, still shirtless, I dried my hair a bit better and as I was quietly minding my own business, I heard two voices on the other side of the row of lockers. I tuned them out for the most part, but one thing the louder voice said stuck in my head. 

“Did you see that first year manager Dateko brought? Man, I saw her this morning and I could definitely think of a few things I’d like-“ he helped and both of them spun around at the sound of a loud bang behind them. 

I stood at the source of the bang with the side of my fist firmly plants on the locker door I’d just smashed it against. My shirt in my other clenched fist. I stared down at the two first years I didn’t recognize, nor could I tell which school they were from since everyone had colored training jerseys and I had no clue which colors belonged to the other schools. I enjoyed the fact that they looked frightened so many they knew exactly who I was, but in case they didn’t I was about to drive the nail home for them. “If I were you,” I sneered, “I’d think twice before even thinking about touching a member of my team.” 

Their eyes widened and both quickly grab what articles of clothing they were wearing and fled in the opposite direction. 

I clicked my tongue in disgust and tried to shake off the feeling of wanting to punch those jerks. I honestly couldn't believe they would have the balls to even joke about such things. With a sigh, I left the room while ignore all the gazes that followed me when I passed. I hadn’t bothered to lower my voice just now, so I knew anyone in the locker room heard me. 

I needed to find Coach Oiwake to talk about the set up for the practice matches, and hoped I’d run into in the cafeteria. I kept an eye on the doors as I ate in silence, but he never showed. I ate breakfast alone this morning. Aone didn’t even have a chance to decide where to sit when he came in, since the little carrot top immediately called for him to sit with him. II liked seeing him getting along with others, but maybe at that moment I was jealous because I wanted to vent. I ended up finishing my meal without speaking to anyone, and left the room. 

Turning the corner out of the cafeteria door nearly had me colliding with a familiar blonde head. I didn’t even barely catch myself. I was forced to brace some of my weight with my hands on his shoulders. I felt him stiffen up in that instant and once I found my balance he spun to glare up at me until he saw it was me and the equally shocked expression I mirrored from him.   
“Sorry. I- I wasn’t watching where I was going.” I apologized quickly. 

Kozume shook his head as he rubbed a hand over one of his shoulders. “It’s fine, I standing in the way anyway.” 

“Did I hurt you?” I asked, gesturing toward the shoulder he was touching.

I watched him looked down at his hand as if he hadn’t even noticed he’d moved it. “Oh, no. No. I’m okay, Futakuchi-san. There’s no need to worry.” 

I nodded, and the guy beside Kozume stepped up with a worried look and for some reason he reminded me of that Asahi-san from Karasuno's senior graduates. 

“Senpai?” he asked timidly even though he looked like he could be older than both of us. 

Kozume looked up and stepped back some so his kouhei was invading his space. “I said I’m fine. Uhm-“ he looked back at me. “I’ll see you later, Futakuchi-san.” 

“Oh, yeah, sorry for interrupting.” I smiled in a passing kindness kind of way and gave a quick wave as I stepped away and continued down the hall. 

Outside, I inhaled the damp morning air and was reminded that I still needed to find Coach. There was only one other place I could check, so I went to the gym and sure enough I found him talking to the other coaches. It was a quick conversation I had with him. I asked him about the set up for matches and he simply told me to wait until everyone was here and they could tell everyone at the same time.

It was still too early to start, of course, so I found an empty spot near a wall to stretch out the rest of my sleepiness while the coaches talked and people trickled into the gym. 

I was leaning forward in a splits position, trying to get the most out of it on my own when I felt a weight on my back. I looked up to see someone I hadn't expected. "E- Captain Ennoshita-san... Good morning." 

"Good morning, Captain Futakuchi-san.” He said back in an odd teasing way that made you question if he was mocking you or serious. “It looked like you could use some help." He said with a smile. 

I turned my head back to facing the floor and let Ennoshita push me forward as far as my body would let me bend. "Thank you, but you really didn't have to. What will your teammates think of you helping a rival?" I couldn't read this guy at all. It also seemed hard to remember how he played because his demon duo outshined the rest of the crows. 

"Don't worry about that, most of them aren't here yet, and I also didn't have a partner to stretch with, so I found one myself." 

I could hear his smile in his voice and for some reason it made a weird tickling spread down my spine. "I see. Then... Thank you, I'll be happy to help you after, too." 

There was an odd silence between us as I finished stretching. Once I was done, I expected to be let go, but the weight didn't move. I glance up at him and saw his expression slowly morph into one of annoyance. "Hey-" 

"KENMAAAAAAA!!!!" The silence was cut like a knife in the whole gym. Ennoshita finally moved off of me, and I looked up in the direction of the voice. 

Hinata ran full speed across half the gym to slam into Kozume who tried to catch the other boy, but ultimately failed and they both crashed to the ground. The display made me smile a bit at the friendliness between rivals, but the person beside me didn't seem to think so. 

"HINATA! DON'T PLOW INTO PEOPLE WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH!" Ennoshita yelled and Hinata's laughter stopped as his head popped up. "Oh nuh uh! Don't you dare!" 

Hinata said something to Kozume who sat up now and nodded with a smile before Hinata jumped up and ran off again. 

"HINATA!!" Ennoshita yelled and ran after him. 

I chuckled, "still as energetic as always." I said to myself before my eyes shifted back to Kozume who sat across the width of the gym from me now. We were the ones left behind by the two crows causing all the noise, so it felt like a brief moment of kinship. I waved a bit and he did as well, but something kept me from getting up to go talk to him. 

"-tain... Captain?" 

I jolted upright and looked up quickly to see Reiji standing beside me. "Oh- Ye- Sorry. Yes, Reiji-kun?" 

"I was calling you for a while, Captain. Coach wants to talk to you." he said and offered a hand to help me up. 

I took his hand and accepted the offer to help me up. "Sorry, I must have been daydreaming." I said before leaving him to walk towards Coach Oiwake. When I got there I gave a quick glance back at Kozume because I realized belatedly that he'd been staring back as well. My mind had been blank, but his gaze felt like he was analyzing me and I wasn't sure I liked that feeling. 

"Futakuchi! About time! How long were you planning on slacking off?" Oiwake said, his arms folded at his chest and staring menacingly at me. 

"Sorry, Coach! Please blame Onegawa!" I said, standing in mock attention. 

"Hey! What did I do?" Onegawa whined from a few feet away where he was helping Sakunami stretch. 

"Shut up, Onegawa!" Coach yelled and it took all my willpower not to laugh at the poor guy. "Futakuchi! Are you warmed up?"

"Not yet." I answered honestly. 

"Good, you're about to be. It seems we are going to need more balls, so Coach Nekomata is going to get one of his boys to go run the errand. You'll go with him so you know the way and to help retrieve the equipment." 

"No offense, but why don't the cats just get it themselves? It's their school." as soon as the words left my mouth I regretted it because Mai came out of nowhere and stabbed me in my side with enough force to put me on the ground. 

"It's to work on Teamwork, Futakuchi! So get to it! If we can learn to work well with a foe, then nothing can get between our teamwork as the Iron Wall." Oiwake said, heeding no concern for his crippled Captain. 

I groaned as I stood up and held onto my side. "Yes, Sir..." 

"Go wait outside, Nekomata should send someone soon." Oiwake instructed before dismissing me. 

“This is grunt work.” I complained to myself as I walked outside to wait by the corner of the building. Still rubbing my side, I felt my shirt suddenly get lifted up and I turned to see Aone behind me glaring at the big red spot under my ribs. "Oh! Ao!" He surprised me and I ended up using the pet name I've called him since childhood on accident. "D-don't be worried, Mai did it." 

Aone nodded and let my shirt go, completely accepting the explanation for my pain. "Don't fight." 

"It wasn't a fight, she snuck up on me." I sighed as he accepted that as well without question. "Go inside, I'll be back in a little bit, I was just asked to run an errand for the coaches." 

"You're who I'm looking for?" 

I blinked and looked back a little to see Kozume doing the same. "I... Yes? To get more balls?" 

Kozume nodded and started walking. 

I blinked again, but quickly said "see ya" to Aone and half ran to catch up to the pudding top blonde.


	3. PDA

It was quiet as we walked, but when he suddenly stopped I pulled up short as well and looked down. "Something wrong?" Then I got a good look at his expression Wide eyes staring off behind a building we were just about to pass if we hadn't stopped. I stepped back to see what he was seeing and my eyes instantly mirrored his along with my mouth falling open. 

"They... are your teammates, right?" Kozume asked quietly. 

I nodded, not verbally answering because even I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Terada was being pinned against a wall forcefully, but he didn't seem to even be fighting back as his friend, Yosano, was giving him an up close and personal tonsil exam. I coughed, and shook my head. "H-hold on, I'll be right back." 

Kozume grabbed for my shirt and pulled, “Wait?! You’re going to in-interrupt them? Just like that?”

I looked back and nodded, “just like that. Someone else could see them, too, if they haven’t already.” Kozume didn’t want to get close, and I couldn’t blame him, it was a rather awkward situation, but these were my teammates, so they were my responsibility. He finally let me go and I stepped off the sidewalk to walk down the slight incline hill leading between building. 

*What the actual fuck am I doing?! I so do NOT want to get in the middle of this.* I cringed inwardly when I saw tongue as I got closer. I only dared to get close enough to be heard by them without yelling. "A-Ahem! You two... might want to stop." 

Both of them came unglued from each other before I even finished speaking. Both their faces were beet red and full of tangible guilt. 

"C-Captain!" Yosano cried out while his companion couldn't even make eye contact. 

Sighing, I held a hand up, "Look, I don't care what you two do in private... Just try to keep it in your pants while we're here, okay? I'm not the only one who just saw that." I watched the color somehow deepen as they both looked up to see Nekoma's Vice-Captain watching from the walkway. I coughed again to gain their attention, "just keep it platonic until you're home, guys." I said and turned to leave, I was almost back to Kozume when Yosano called out to me. 

"Captain Futakuchi!" he ran up to me, concern on his face now. "Captain, y-you're not angry?" 

From this distance, I knew Kozume could hear us now. I sighed again and scratched the back of my head, "Why would I be? It's not really any of my business what you two do." 

"I... I mean because we're both boys, normally... wouldn't you… kick us off the team? ... or something." Yosano asked as his eyes fell downward. 

I don't know why, but I glanced back at Kozume who just gave a small shrug to me. "Terada!" I called out as I looked over Yosano's head at the other boy who refused to budge, but now he dragged his feet until he was standing in front of me, too. I put my hands on my hips as the weight of this situation hit me. "Look, I want you both to know that I only disapprove of you making out while you should be inside warming up and getting serious about the matches today. We were invited here and I intend to squeeze every ounce of knowledge and skill I can out of this opportunity. I want you two to do the same, as well as the rest of our team. I'm all for freedom of love and all that stuff." I shifted my weight. "If it makes you feel better, I would have said the same things the same way if I had seen one of you tongue wrestling with some girl. It's all the same in my mind, just don't do it while we're supposed to be practicing." They both nodded, and I was slightly surprised at how tame Terada was behaving, but I could understand why he was quiet right now at well. "Alright! That's enough, get your asses inside and you better be warmed up by the time I get back!" I raised my voice a bit, but it wasn't serious. 

"YES, SIR!" They both yelled loudly and quickly made their escape. 

I rubbed my ear from their volume, and sighed for a third time as I turned back to rejoin Kozume. "What a pain..." 

Kozume had his hands fidgeting in front of him, and his head was down slightly. It reminded me of Mai when she was a first year and still shy. "Go ahead and ask what you want, though I have a feeling I know what it is." I told him, keeping my voice down since there were still people around us. Not close, but there. 

Kozume jumped a bit, and got more fidgety before all movement stopped except his legs as we started walking again. "Uh- Um, was that... normal for you?" 

I raised a brow, "Normal? No, not really. I was as surprised as you were. Those two are new members in Dateko, first years. The blonde, Terada, likes to scream and pick fights, and Yosano usually keeps him in check for the rest of us. I just figured they were childhood friends like me and Aone."

"Aone?" 

"Oh, my vice captain. Tall, scary, and no eyebrows." I replied with a jesting smile. 

"Oh, the guy you were talking to before." 

I nodded because he looked up then, and I watched his hands fold together and unfold when he looked forward again. 

"Then how were you able to handle something like that?" he asked, "you looked used to seeing... that."

I laughed shortly, "trust me, I am definitely not used to seeing two men kiss, but after the initial surprise it didn't really feel like I was seeing anything different than if one of them were a girl- Oh! Wait, I have seen two guys kissing before." 

Kozume looked up and I could see the small bit of surprise in his expression. 

"Last year after interhigh I was heading to the gym at lunch one day and found two seniors who thought they found a vacant spot to makeout at. I was mad that they were doing it against my precious gym and I threw a ball at them." I chuckled and pushed my fingers under my hair, "now that I think about it, wasn't that considered a hate crime?" 

Kozume just shrugged, "I wouldn't know, I've almost never even seen people kissing." 

"Never?" 

Kozume nodded, “unless you could parents kissing. Since I was young I was always with Ku- my best friend, and when he's around it’s always about volleyball.”

“Not even a little PDA?” 

Kozume shook his head, “maybe I just didn’t care to notice until now?”

It did confuse me, but I stopped myself from prying too much. "Well... Now you have, Kozume-san. Even though it was two over muscled kids that were doing the kissing." I said, wanting to lighten the mood, and I didn't see it but I could swear I heard him laugh a tiny bit, so mission accomplished. "Seriously, what did those two eat while growing up? I think they have even more muscle than I do." 

Kozume looked up, his face appearing normal again. As he stared though, I felt the same odd sensation at the back of my neck that I did back in the gym when I zoned out on staring at him. "No, I saw you in the locker room before. You're built better, just taller so you're less bulky." 

"Hmm... Makes sense." I looked down and casually touching my stomach. 

"Over here." Kozume sudden said and turned towards a small building. 

"Wow, the equipment shed is pretty far at Nekoma, isn't it?" I asked as I followed him up to the doors and waited while he unlocked them. 

"It is from the gym, but it's placed here to be close to the track field because most gym classes are held out there." he explained as he opened the door and we went inside the dark room. he moved to the side to find the light switch. 

"Oh, I see." I said, and blinked when the lights above flickered on. 

"The extra volleyballs are over here. Coach said we're to bring two bags back, but that's never enough, so I'm taking all three back." Kozume moved easily through the equipment, his smaller body fitting in the tight spaces. 

I followed slowly, trying to be careful not to knock anything down. "Are they all the way in the back?" I asked as I squeezed between two stacks of foam mats. 

"Kind of." Kozume said from somewhere else in the room, having already slipped through the maze out of my line of sight. "The soccer team is still petty about losing in the sports festival last year so they are very passive aggressive towards us now. They put the volleyball clubs things in the back any time they get the chance." Kozume suddenly popped up on the other side of a metal shelf. "It's okay, I can get them from here and bring them out." 

I ducked my head to see him better through the shelving. "I'm almost there, promise." I said and turned to see the path he had taken. It took a bit of effort, but I squeezed into the small space in the back of the room. "Damn, that was a tight fit." I muttered. 

"There is a bright side to this, Captain Futakuchi." Kozume said and pointed out a door behind him. 

"Wha- There's a back door? Why didn't we use that?" I showed my discontent in having had to do this the hard way. 

Kozume turned, but not before I saw a little sly smile, "Because this one can't be opened from the outside. Someone broke the key off in the lock years ago and now it's permanently locked from the outside." 

"Oh... Well, damn, that would have made this so much easier." I grumbled and moved towards the mesh bags of volleyballs beside Kozume. Once we had all three outside the back door, I caught it before Kozume could close it. "Wait... hold this open for me for a second." I knew this was unbecoming of a Captain from another school, but payback was payback. I ran around to the front where we left the door open and slipped inside to grab up all the Soccer clubs balls I could carry and brought them to the back. Kozume didn't even stop me from throwing them inside and he even shut the door for me after I was done. 

"Are you satisfied now?" he asked as he stepped over to our balls and picked up one of the bags. He looked like he would struggle a lot more, but besides for a slight stumble as the weight shifted over his shoulder, he held his own with the sack of volleyballs. 

"Yes, very much so. It's not even my school, but bullies always get what they deserve." I replied with a smile and gladly picked up the other two bags. 

Kozume waited until we were on the walkway to speak again, and also slipped his fingers into the mesh at the bottom of one of my bags to help carry the load. "Why does it feel like you're far too used to playing tricks on people?" 

"Haha, maybe because I used to be a big troublemaker." I replied honestly. "I used to tease and antagonize everyone I saw, even my own teammates." 

"Really? What happened? Because I’m not seeing a difference here." 

I snorted at his little quip. "Honestly, having real responsibilities changed me. When I was given the status Captain, I finally understood the weight, stress, and complications that came with it. I understood my senpai's struggles. It didn't happen over night, but getting Koga as a setter hammered that nail home because I realized I had to step up to train this kid for everyone's sake." I looked down at Kozume, "it was just eye opening how much of a kid I was." 

Kozume listened quietly, and when I finished he nodded his head, "I can understand that. I guess I can sort of relate, too. Although I'm only Vice captain; Taketora takes care of most things. I'm still somewhat viewed as the team mascot." 

"The mascot?" I raised a questioning brow. 

"Yeah, it's dumb. Something the previous captain started." He paused outside the gym and looked up at me, the sounds of voices yelling, balls bouncing, and shoes squeaking could be heard inside. "I won't tell you, though." 

I chuckled at his expression, defiant and shy, or was that embarrassment? "Aww, why not? we were getting along so well just now." I teased. 

Kozume dropped the bag he'd been helping me carry, "and I see now that your so-called past teasing is still very much alive, Captain Futakuchi." He said with a bit of surliness. 

I just laughed and was about to tease more when two voices suddenly grabbed our attention from inside. 

"FUTAKUCHI!" "Kozume-kun!" Coaches Oiwake and Nekomata yelled from where they stood together within view of the open gym doors. Oiwake continued it, though. "GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE NOW! WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!" 

"Whoops, we're in trouble." I said and turned to head inside. 

"This is your fault." Kozume whispered as he followed. 

We put the bags down by the wall and went to stand together in front of our respective coaches. I spoke first, "I apologise, coach. It was hard to get the balls out." 

Nekomata sighed and stopped Oiwake from yelling again. "The soccer team again, Kozume-kun?" 

Kozume nodded quietly, and I found it odd that he didn't speak. Especially in front of his Coach. 

"Then it's understandable. I'll have to have a talk with our soccer club advisor about this. You two are dismissed, go stretch and warm up together since you're the last two. We waited for you guys to return before announcing the rules, so it's just mixed skirmishes for now." Nekomata pretty much took over coaching us both even though I wasn't part of his team, but Oiwake didn't seem to have anything else to add so I bowed slightly and turned to find a spot to stretch in again. 

Kozume tapped my arm and pointed out a space near the back wall where several Fukurodani players were practicing at. "Let's go over there." 

I nodded and followed him over. "There used to be a loud guy in Fukurodani, right? I remember seeing some of their matches last year." I asked quietly as we approached the vacant spot. 

"Yeah, Bokuto-san. He graduated along with most of Fukurodani, they're basically a whole new team now." Kozume replied and gestured for me to sit first. 

I sat down and took the first position, Kozume was behind me and pressed down on my shoulders to help me stretch further. "Kozume-san... You can put more strength into it." I heard him make a weird sound before I felt a knee press in between his hands. "Haha!" 

"Not funny, I usually stretch with Shibayama." Kozume explained and tried to put more weight into it. "and he is shorter than me." 

I was laughing again and harder still because when he said "Oh, shut up you giant wall." I could tell Kozume was trying to get more of a reaction from me by getting both his knees and hands on me and literally putting his full weight on top of me. Suddenly though, I felt him slip down and stand again, but his hands remained on my shoulders. "You can keep going, that actually felt good, Kozume-san. You almost had me all the way down." 

"Kozume?" 

That voice was unfamiliar and I sat up some to look up to see someone from Fukurodani standing in front of us. 

"Akaashi." Kozume said, but didn't move. 

"It's good to see you. You seem... livelier." Akaashi said and glance down at me. "I've only seen you talk so much with Hinata-kun from Karasuno. Do you know each other?" 

"Um... M-mh." Kozume shook his head. "We... just met." 

I sat up and reached a hand out, "Nice to meet you, I'm Kenji Futakuchi, Captain of Dateko." he shook my hand briefly and took a half step back after. 

"Nice to meet you, too. I'm the Captain of Fukurodani, Keiji Akaashi." He replied before looking back at Kozume. "Those two idiots messaged me earlier... saying something about skipping their classes to come here." 

Kozume's expression sank. "Please tell me this is a sick joke..." 

"Afraid not. Only those two are dumb enough to skip in their first semester of college." Akaashi sighed, "I told Bokuto I would disown him if he showed up, so hopefully he goes dark Bokuto and stays away." 

I blinked, *are they talking about the ex-captain of Fukurodani?* "Um, I can go if you two want to catch up." I said, and started to stand up, but Kozume pressed down again. 

"No, it's okay, you still have to help me stretch and warm up, too." Kozume said and to make his point he pushed me forward again and climbed on my back. 

"Ugh! Some warning next time, please." I groaned and readjusted my legs so there wasn't as much strain. After a few seconds of silence I had to ask, "how satisfied does he look, Akaashi-san?" 

"Oh, very." 

"What? No I don't." Kozume defended himself, but as he did he shifted his knees up and I could feel him actually sitting seiza style on my back. 

Laughing, I resigned to my current fate as a sitting cushion. "Does this mean I get to sit on you afterwards, too?" 

Kozume crossed his arms, "absolutely not, you'll kill me." 

"Where's Akaashi-san? I need help." I begged. 

"He is already back with his team, he said goodbye, you just couldn't see it." Kozume said convincingly. 

"No, I'm still here, just enjoying the show of a cat singlehandedly taking down an Iron Wall." Akaashi said. 

I laughed because it was pretty much true, but I wasn't down yet. Without warning I pushed myself up and made Kozume slip off my back, but what I didn't expect was arms suddenly around my neck and choking me for a second from behind. I coughed once and looked back at a startled Kozume. "Hahahah! You had to have known that would happen." 

Kozume made a pouty face for just a second, "Yeah, but you could've let me stay on top for a bit longer." 

I grinned, "maybe next time I will." 

"Seriously, you two just met?" Akaashi asked, an eyebrow arched high over us. 

I looked up to answer and missed seeing Kozume blush, but Akaashi saw and raised a that brow at the blonde. "Technically we met last night. Kozume-san was still awake when our and Karasuno's buses arrived." 

Akaashi didn't look at me for a long minute, but eventually he did and nodded, "well, I'll let you two get back to warming up, it looks like the coaches are about ready to start." 

I watched the tall owl go back to his team before turning to look at Kozume, "he's right, let's hurry." 

Kozume nodded and we switched places, but when I pressed down on his shoulders there was no resistance and my eyes widened when his body just folded in half. 

"What the hell kind of flexibility do you have? There's no resistance!" I exclaimed and pressed one of my hands down lower on his back. 

"Mh... I've always been like this. Let me change position." when I let up on the pressure Kozume moved his legs to being straight out in front of him. "Okay." he said giving the signal to press again. 

There was some resistance now, but not much and Kozume still looked unfazed as he effortlessly touched his forehead to his shins. He even turned his head to the side to be able to lay flatter. "To tell you the truth, I don't get a lot out of stretching, but I do it anyway." 

"I see, but you still have to loosen your muscles up." I said and pressed my thumbs between his shoulder blades and rubbed them up to his shoulders. 

"Mh..." 

"See? Even with a boneless body, your muscles can still tense up." I half teased, but ended up laughing when I received a glare. 

"I'm not boneless." Kozume pushed himself up, "Next position. You first." 

I let go and moved to lay on my back. Kozume grabbed under my knee and pushed my leg up, trying to touch my knee to my chest. I looked down until Kozume looked at me and I shook my head. 

With a big sigh, Kozume changed his own position to stand above me at my side and carefully put his shin to mine and held onto my knee for balance as he pressed down. "Better?" he asked, staring down at me. 

I nodded, "much better. Ten more seconds then we switch." we both counted in our heads until I reached "8" and them I counted out loud. Kozume switched to my other leg and we did the same thing before switching roles and I helped him in the same position. 

Just like before, there was no resistance no matter which way I pushed his knees up. "any special way to stretch this?" Kozume just shook his head, and I sighed. I was starting to feel slightly awkward here. I wasn't used to touching someone I barely knew this much. 

We stayed pretty quiet through the rest of the stretching, just repositioning, counting, and staring at each other when we had no choice. Once we were done, I stood up and pulled Kozume up as well. 

There was a stray ball nearby so I went to pick it up and pointed for Kozume to go out further. "we can toss and receive until we're warmed up and the coaches are ready." 

"Alright." Kozume turned and walked a proper distance away and I tossed the ball first. He received it perfectly, and I didn't even have to move to receive it back. I found a new respect for Kozume because we managed to keep receiving without dropping the ball until a loud whistle rang through the gym.


	4. Bet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things take a turn.

Startled by the whistle cutting through the room, Kozume fumbled the ball and it bounced off to the side. No matter though, our attentions were all on the Coaches and they called for a line-up. I glanced at Kozume before running up and taking my spot. Everyone made four lines for each school. First Captains, the vice captains, then by year and everyone stood at attention. 

Nekomata stepped up first to speak. "Firstly, I would like to welcome everyone. Karasuno and Fukurodani, welcome back, and Dateko, welcome to your first training camp here in Tokyo. As you all know you will all be sleeping, eating, bathing, training, sweating, and dying together this week. You will learn things about your rivals, and arch enemies you didn't know before, and you may even become friends. No matter what kind of relationships you create here, friend or rival, it will stick with you when the real games start. This camp is for each one of you to learn about your rivals teams and yourselves. There's absolutely no way any of you will come out of this without gaining something. This week it is not about winning, it's about learning your own weaknesses and where you need to improve. If your a first year student, this is one of the best opportunity for you all to learn from your senpai. Soak up everything you can like sponges." Nekomata cleared his throat. "but most importantly... Have fun." 

Coach Ukai stepped forward now with a clipboard in hand. "Okay boys, this is how things are going to work. Both courts will be used for point scoring games. The losing team will have penalties to run, and the winners get some time to rest up for the next match. You're also free to practice between matches, but don't overdo it, it's hot and we don't need anyone going down from heat exhaustion... Hinata." Ukai called the energetic carrot top out and that gained several giggles from around the room. "We'll draw lots for the first games, and from there we'll rotate." 

Nekoma's second coach, Coach Naoi held up popsicle sticks in his hand. "If there's no objections, we thought Dateko could take first pick since they're new here." He waited a moment, and no one said anything so he nodded towards me. "Captain Futakuchi, if you'll do the honors." 

I actually had objections, I didn't like being treated differently just because this was our first time here. If it's like that, then some of the second years and all first years here were having their first times. Sighing, I stepped forward anyway and quickly pulled a stick out without even really looking. The end of the stick was colored yellow. 

"You chose Fukurodani, that means Nekoma and Karasuno will face off in their first matches. Everyone get ready!" Naoi said and quickly the Coaches separated so they could each discuss who would be playing first. 

Pretty much everyone had the same idea, sending all the new players in for the first matches. Fukurodani put all first years in, Oiwake put in Yosano, Terada, Reiji, Sakunami, Koganegawa, and Fukiage. I glanced over and saw it was basically the same for Karasuno and Nekoma. I thought those two might go all out in the beginning, but I stood corrected. 

I helped to coach our guys without interfering too much. Still, I ended up yelling at Reiji and Yosano to jump higher with Koga when blocking. Yosano was getting it, but Reiji still couldn't put enough strength behind a block and let nearly every ball through since Fukurodani’s boys were aiming for him. I only paused the game myself once to give Reiji a quick lesson on soft blocks that pop the ball up, but even then, I could see he couldn’t get the timing right. It was plain to see that Reiji needed most help and experience out of all of the first years. 

In my opinion, the matches were going pretty good, and we were allowed to pause matches to help someone if we wanted. During a volley I was talking to Aone when I saw Koganegawa do something stupid. "KOGA!" I yelled a little too loudly and accidentally gained the attention of most the gyms occupants. I couldn't let that stop me though, "What did I tell you about setting the ball too high!? No one can spike those!" 

Koga cowardly hid his giant body behind poor Reiji. "N-not to do it." 

"Exactly! Don't do it again!" I pointed up. "That one nearly took out a light, what if someone got hurt?" I only wish I was exaggerating.

Koga groveled to the floor, "I'M SO SORRY, CAPTAIN!" 

"Hmph." I grunted and crossed my arms. "Do it again, and I'll make you do nothing but penalties for the rest of the week." 

Koga nearly hit a high note that could shatter glass and he started apologizing, crying, and begging me for forgiveness. 

I sighed hard, "just get back to the game." I turned to tilt my head towards Akaashi, "Sorry for the interruption." I said to him from where I stood near the net. I didn't get to see if he responded, though as I heard a ball hit the floor hard behind me on the other court. I turned to see one of Karasuno's first years getting high fives. He was a big guy for a sophomore. 

Then out of the corner of my eye I realized my company had snuck away. Aone left when I was yelling at Kogane to go talk to Hinata. *Poor guy has a huge soft spot for the little crow.* I thought with a smile on my face as I watched Hinata bounce excitedly when he noticed Aone was near. "Seems the feeling is mutual for him too, Ao." I whispered to myself. 

The first matches went well considering the interruptions on my part. Dateko and Nekoma won our matches, and the two losing teams were given penalties. Since it was still morning the penalty for both Karasuno and Fukurodani was running up a steep hill outside the gym. As for the winners we were deciding our next line-up for our match. Winners play winners, losers play losers. That was a fun way the coaches came up with for the rotation of matches. 

"Koga, Yosano and myself will be the front line this time." I stated. 

"You're going to play, Captain?" Sakunami asked.   
I nodded, "Yeah, I'm itching to play, so I'm squeezing myself in." I thought a bit more on the rest of the line up. “Fukiage, Reiji and Terada will be our back defense, focus of receiving and keeping the ball in game." 

Reiji raised his hand, "Captain, wouldn't it be better to put someone else in, I-" 

"If you aren't up to it, Reiji, then you might as well leave." I said and Sakunami grabbed my arm. 

"Captain! What are you sayin-" Sakunami's words were cut short by my hand raising to quiet him. 

"Reiji, this camp is to help you improve, you aren't going to get better after just one game. If you're serious here, then you better be ready to play until you drop. Because in a real match, there is no quitting. Matches can go on well into overtime. Those are the times that will test your endurance and drive to keep playing, to keep the ball in the air, and to win with everything you've got. I can't put a player into a match knowing he isn't going to fight as hard as I am to score that winning point." I sighed, “and grow a little blood lust would ya-“

"Captain Futakuchi." A voice called me from behind and I turned to see Kozume standing by the net. "We're ready when you guys are." he said and quickly turned to move into the setters position on the court. 

I nodded to him, but I didn't think he saw it so I turned back to Reiji who had a different expression. "By the look on your face, I'd say you are ready to put in some more fight." 

Reiji nodded, "Yes, Captain! I'm sorry for complaining, I want to play!" 

"Good! Remember your basics and training and you'll do fine. This time I will be on the court so I can help you all I want to." I clapped a hand on his shoulder and yelled for everyone to take their positions. 

I moved to stand on the opposite side of the net from Kozume and I couldn't help the grin that stretched my lips. "I won't go easy on you, little kitty. This is payback for using me as you personal chair." 

To my surprise, out of view of his teammates, Kozume flashed me a wicked smile of his own. "After I win this, then you'll have to be my personal chair for the rest of the week." 

"Oh-ho-ho~ You're a betting man, I see. Then when I win, you have to give me massages every single night." I grabbed the net, "I'm looking forward to it already."

"Dream on, stupid Iron giant." Kozume retorted back. 

I laughed out loud and stepped back to my spot to take on a battle stance. "LET'S GO, BOYS! WE'RE WINNING THIS ONE, TOO!" Everyone on my side of the court yelled out and got as serious as I was.   
Yosano was practically vibrated beside me with excitement, "This is so cool! We get to see Captain in action!" 

"Shut up, shithead! Focus!" Terada growled at Yosano from behind. 

Koganegawa laughed hard, "just wait until you see Captain serve! It's unstoppable." 

One of the guys on the other side of the net across from Koga smiled at us. "Thanks for letting us know who to focus on, Dateko losers." He stuck his tongue out at Koga who just stupidly did the same thing.

Coach Naoi was standing by and whistled for all of us to get ready. Nekoma was serving first, and as soon as the whistle blew again, the tall half-japanese guy served. His arm was like a whip and sent the ball flying over the net at incredible speed right at Reiji. Reiji received, but the ball bounced high off his forearms and out of the court. 

Nekoma 1 / Dateko 0 

"Lucky shot." I growled light-heartedly, not all too worried about losing the first point. "Reiji, tilt your arms down a bit more, you got this!" 

"YES, SIR!" 

"Lev, keep hitting it towards the kid until he gets it." Kozume ordered and took everyone by surprise. 

Naoi smiled, "Excellent decision, Kozume-kun, helping not only your ally, but your rivals as well in these matches. I'm proud of you." 

Kozume tilted his head down, his hair making it impossible to see his expression, but when he looked up it was at me and I could see the slight remnants of a blush over his face. 

Smiling, I looked back at Reiji, "You hear that, we're going to go until you receive it perfectly, so don't lose us too many points, ya hear." 

"Y-Yes, sir!" Reiji said again, not quite as confident as I was. 

Lev's serves were like a back-row spike. Hard and fast, just how they would be in a real match and I was happy for that because Reiji would get to see exactly how heart pounding and amazing it will be to receive such a serve. 

We were down by five points and to my surprise, Aone called a time out and silently went to Reiji to physically put his body into the correct position. I made a face at the giant for being too gentle. However, this time Reiji actually did received the ball. It popped up, but it stayed on our side. Everyone yelled “NICE RECEIVE!” I even heard some of the Nekoma players yell it as well. 

"Koga!" I yelled.

"Got it!" 

Koga shifted to stand under the falling ball in a split second, at the same time I took a half step back and jumped at the same instant he set the ball to me. I put every ounce of power I could muster into that spike. A huge smile on my face as I forced the ball through the blockade and into the floor so hard that it bounced high and hit the back wall. 

"Finally." I muttered, and found myself looking down at Kozume again who had been just under where I spiked the ball. I could see he was a bit shaken, probably from not having expected that I would slam the ball down so hard. I grinned at him, "Now the real game begins. No more freebies." 

I said that, but the gap was harder to close than I anticipated. We fought hard, but ultimately, Nekoma lived up to it's reputation of being excellent receivers. The gap never got closed and Nekoma won by three points. 

"Haaaah! Damn it." I sighed hard as I held my hip and fanned my shirt with my other hand. Mai and Reiko came back at some point and they handed out water bottles to us before Oiwake told us to all go run up the hill ten times. Twice as much as anyone else so far. 

I wasn't even the first one back inside and I didn't care, I was just happy to feel the cold floor as I crawled down and rolled into my back. I only made sure I wasn't in anyone's way where I rested. Key word here being "rested" because I actually could. Fukurodani and Karasuno were still in the middle of their match, so we and Nekoma could only wait.

Closing my eyes, I simply focused on cooling my body down. Sipping water occasionally as I listened to the other game being hard fought. 

"It's not very becoming of a Captain to be sleeping at a time like this." 

I jerked slightly, not even having heard anyone walk up on me, and opened my eyes to see my friendly rival standing over me. I chuckled and closed my eyes again, "what? Did you come here to claim your prize? You won the bet fair and square." 

Kozume hummed, "I have a feeling it would have been a different outcome of you hadn't given us all those points in the beginning." 

I peeked an eye open and smiled a bit crookedly, "are you implying that I let you win?"

"N-no. I'm just saying our win would have been harder. We still would have won, though." Kozume crossed his arms defiantly. 

Laughing again, I sat up and leaned my head back again the wall to look up and him. "How about we go all out then next time we're matched. Our core players. What do you say?" 

Kozume thought about it, and nodded after a few seconds. "Tora would probably like that." he pinned a loose fist on his hip, "hey, you aren't trying to get out of the bet, are you? I still won." 

I shook my head, "Nope, a bet is a bet, and I agreed to be your personal chair for the week." *As odd as that sounds.* I thought but was already patting my thigh. 

Kozume took a step forward, and sat as far away on my lap as he could. We fell silent for that moment, just staring at each other, but I was the one to break the silence, snorting at how this must look from the outside. 

"This is a bit awkward, isn't it?" I asked, partly covering my smile with my fingers.

Kozume nodded robotically. 

"We didn't quite think this through, did we?" 

"No. No we did not." Kozume replied and moved off my lap to sit on the floor about a good foot away from me now. It was then that I looked up and noticed several pairs of eyes watching with mixtures of curiosity, confusion, awe, and pure befuddlement of what they saw. Mostly it was from Nekoma members. The rest of Dateko was either still outside taking their time on the penalty run, or too worn out to look up like I was earlier. Karasuno and Fukurodani were busy, but their captains both very much saw our odd exchange and behavior. 

I glanced down when Kozume pulled his knees up and hid his face. He somehow looked even smaller than normal. "...maybe we should save your reward for later?" I asked, but as I half expected I didn't really get a response. It was stupid to ask that anyway.


	5. Two for Two

Aone came in some time later drenched in sweat. He gratefully took water from Mai and came over to sit on the other side of me to catch his breath and rehydrate. 

"Took you long enough." I told him. 

He looked at me and huffed. "It gets hotter here." He said before drinking again. His eyes caught sight of the small body beside me though and he nodded towards Kozume with a short grunt. 

"Hm?" I look over and found the little cat with his head up again, but he looked lost in thought. "Oh, this is Kozume-san. We made a silly bet and he won, but we realized too late how awkward the reward would be in public." I explained to Aone, not noticing that Kozume was looking up at us since I turned my head back towards Aone. 

"Not just in public." Kozume commented.

"Mh?" Aone hummed. 

I chuckled, "he won me as his personal chair for the week." 

Aone's nearly non-existent brows shot up. "A chair?" 

"Yeah... he sat on my lap, but it got awkward really fast." I scratched the back of my head and looked back at Kozume to find him staring up at me with what seemed like a very displeased expression. "Oh, sorry. This is Aone. He's my Vice-Captain and doesn't talk much."

I glanced back at Aone to find him pouting in his weird way of pouting. "Oh my God, would you two stop pouting at me, I'm starting to feel guilty for some reason." I sighed. 

"Do you have a reason to feel guilty, Futakuchi-san?" Akaashi came over even though his team was still in a match. 

"Huh? No. Why would I?" I got the feeling that this Akaashi person wasn't much of a fan of mine, but I didn't know why.

Akaashi turned as if to just walk away, but he stopped and now it seemed he was watching his team play from here. "No, I was just curious." he looked back, but this time he was looking at Kozume. "Kenma-kun, could you have lunch with me today? Kuroo won't stop pestering me because you're not answering his messages." 

Kozume huffed and looked away, "why would I talk to him in the middle of practice?" there was a long silence. 

As the silence stretched on, Kozume kept his eyes averted, and I got the sense that these two knew something I was more than likely not welcome to ask about. "Uh, should I go?" 

"No." Kozume stood up, "Akaashi, let's talk now." He walked off and Akaashi followed without even saying goodbye. 

Sighing, I watched the two head outside. "What do you think that was about." 

"Mh."

"I know, whatever it was, Kozume-san didn't look happy about that Kuroo person, weren't they supposed to be friends?" 

"You shouldn't meddle." Aone mumbled. 

"Hmm, you're right, mom." I laughed when Aone gave me a pinched glare. 

~

The rest of morning practice went forward smoothly, and I focused helping my teammates improve. In the end we lost two and won two matches. Come lunch time everyone was already exhausted, and Mai caught me during one of my not wanting to eat while feeling hot moments. She forced me to drink water and then eat a banana with Aone's help. 

After feeling mothered too much I shrugged off their attachments and went inside to sit on the cool floor and do some light stretching. We had an hour for lunch, so as I lay there on my back now. My body twisted lazily at my hips as I contemplated taking a cat nap...

"-me on, Kenma. Me and Shouhei are going. It wouldn't be right without our cute wingman."

I must have fallen asleep for a moment, the sudden voice nearby startled me a little and I looked up to see who it was but I realized the voices were outside the small windows at the bottom of the wall. It was Kozume and his captain, Taketora, and either they didn't notice I was nearby or they didn't care. 

"First of all, don’t call me cute, Tora. And secondly, I told you already I don't want to." Kozume retorted. 

"Of course you do, any healthy teenage boy does, and plus it's…” Taketora made a less than convincing sound. “Tradition." Taketora crossed his arms and with Kozume's back was towards meI couldn't see his face. 

"It's not tradition, just something some stupid senpai's made up years ago so seniors have an excuse to sneak out and get laid." Kozume made an aggravated sound and turned around, when he did, his eyes were nearly level with mine. His expression went from shocked to something else I couldn’t recognize while Kozume’s Captain cried out for him to keep his voice down. "Are you going to invite the seniors from Dateko, too?" Kozume asked Taketora without breaking eye contact with me. 

"Well, I was going to ask if you would invite them. You seemed awfully chummy with their captain earlier." Taketora said, but it somehow sounded like an accusation near the end. 

Kozume didn't look happy about how Taketora said that, "Well. That's too bad because I don't want to go into the city for whores." he turned and walked away, leaving his captain sour and me feeling confused as hell. 

*What was that look for? Was he mad I overheard?* I thought to myself as I sat up and wondered what the hell they were just talking about. I never thought I’d hear Kozume say such crude words, granted I barely knew him, but still… he didn’t seem the type. 

I wanted to just ask him about it, but I didn't get the chance to. Kozume disappeared until five minutes before lunch was over and everyone was already getting ready for afternoon training. Even all day, between matches or intermissions, I didn't get the chance to talk him. By the end of the day I was exhausted mentally and physically, I was one of the first people in the showers and to the cafeteria for dinner. 

There were only the rare few who still had energy to spare. The crow duo was no surprise to anyone that the two were arguing so animatedly. I also noticed how a lot of the seniors looked still ready for something, and I wasn't stupid. I now knew they were eager for lights out so they could sneak out tonight. 

Near the end of dinner I spotted Kozume coming in to sit at a table that was mostly empty, and begin eating while playing on a handheld game console. I was curious enough to watch as Taketora walked by with Shouhei without so much as a glance at their vice captain. 

*Trouble in paradise.* I thought, but I also knew it was none of my business. "Hm?" I asked, feeling someone nudge my arm beside me. It was Aone finally sitting to eat. "Did Chibi go already?" I asked without thinking, and giggled when Aone blushed. "What? You think you can keep secrets from your best friend?" I teased. For the remainder of dinner it was just me and Aone. Not even I could get him to open up yet about his goals towards Hinata, but that was likely because not all of them were innocent. I still liked to tease my best friend though.

Once Aone was done, I stood up. "Let's get some rest, Aone." I said and took my trash to the garbage before heading out. Without meaning to, I glanced in Kozume's direction before I passed through the doors. I noticed he was looking up as well, but quickly averted his face down to his game when I he was caught. It made me wonder if he was still concerned as well about me overhearing his and Taketora's conversation.

~

I already expected it, but when I got to the room, Taketora, Shouhei, Tanaka, Nishinoya, Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita weren't exactly getting ready for bed. Only Akaashi was actually properly ready bed, he was sitting on his futon reading a book in the corner. I looked over at Onegawa and Obara who were pulling their futons out and not paying too much attention beside for what they were talking about between themselves. I decided to follow their examples. 

Aone followed as well and I went to pick out a futon and then a place to put it. I chose the same corner as last night because I remembered their being a nice breeze in that corner. Aone took the spot horizontal to the windows, so I knew he had the same idea as me. "Ao-"

"Futakuchi-san?" I was interrupted by Taketora.   
I could already guess what he was going to ask me and my teammates, I also knew my answer since I had time to think about that conversation today and the looks Kozume gave me all afternoon and at dinner. "Taketora-san? Right? Sorry, I don't think I've properly said hello yet." 

"Yeah, It's been a wild day, haven't had the time, ya know." Taketora agreed and shook my hand. "So yeah, I wanted to talk to the rest of you and your boys here. There's a bit of a tradition that seniors at this training camp have a night of our own the first night of camp." 

"Ohh, what is it exactly that you're proposing?" I asked, stepping over my futon to stand in front of him.

Taketora smiled, "Well, we're going out into the city tonight. We'll take the train there, party all night and bring the first train back before anyone wakes up." 

"Wow, that sound like it would be a fun night, but what can a bunch of high schoolers do alone at night in a city? If we're not caught, there's no way anyone would let a bunch of kids in anywhere." 

Taketora smiled again, cockier now. "You make valid points, however, take it from a city boy, we know of a few places that don't check ID's and allow eighteen year olds and up to enter.” He grinned as if he already sold me. “And they have special services, too." 

Honestly that did intrigue me, and damn it was tempting- *so why don't I go?*

"What do you say, man, why don’t you come along?" Taketora asked. 

I breathed in and hissed out a long quiet sigh, "Honestly, I don't know why, but I feel like I'm probably better off here tonight. It sounds fun, but I'll save that for when I'm not dead of my feet from all day practice." I patted his shoulder, "Have fun on my part, too."

"That's too bad, I thought you would have been up for some fun. What about your big vice captain?" He asked, gesturing towards Aone who'd heard the whole thing. 

Aone, being Aone, gave me a slight look that I recognized as confused, and I stepped closer to whisper to him. "They're asking if you want to go out to look for some girls to... y'know." Why did I feel like a bad guy explaining this to Aone. 

He understood though, and immediately shook his head. I chuckled and looked back at Taketora with a shrug, "well, two for two, sorry man." 

"No problem, mind if I ask your other boys?" he asked. 

"It's a free country." was all I said and moved to sit on my futon. Within the next five minutes Taketora had asked both, and both Obara and Onegawa agreed to wanting to go. After finding out, I subtly gave Onegawa a warning to stay out of trouble and told him to pass it on to Obara.


	6. Contact

Near lights out, I was in bed yawning and flipping through a sports magazine. Aone was already asleep, or at least I thought so. Coach Ukai must have been on duty because he burst in to tell us all to go to bed, he was yelling at Tanaka when Kozume walked in behind the coach and got yelled at instead. Before Anyone could move any further, Ukai flipped the lights out and shut the door. 

Now the stragglers without futons were left to find them in the dark. Some took out their phones to help see in the dark room. I ignored the hushed commotions until I heard rustling beside me. Reaching for my phone, I unlocked the screen to shine some light on the noise and wanted to laugh when I saw Kozume dragging his futon out in the dark. 

I didn't ask anything, I just quietly shined my light over so he could see, once he had it laid out he quickly slipped his pants off; shorts on underneath, and crawled down into his bed. I still had my screen turned up, so I caught the look he gave me before he rolled into his stomach and got comfortable. It was still unreadable, and I still really wanted to ask about all the other glances I noticed throughout the day. Once again, though, the timing wasn’t good. We would never have a private conversation here. Sighing softly, I turned my screen off, I rolled over to get comfortable again as well. 

I was almost asleep, right on the edge of sleep, but was woken up again suddenly, making my fight or flight instincts kick in and I half sat up in bed as I turned over towards the sounds. It was Taketora again with his phone’s light and Kozume's both shining up at their faces that watched me now. It seemed that I startled them as much as they did me. 

"Mh... Oh, the girl hunting thing." I mumbled and flopped back to my pillow. "Be quiet, some of us prefer sleep over used up cunts." I heard a snort followed by a giggle that told me I made Kozume laugh and the sound made me smile. 

"See? You woke up Futakuchi, and I couldn't have said it better than he did. I don't want to go, so stop bugging me, Tora." Kozume whispered. 

"But-"

"Dude, the man doesn't want to join your weird traditional orgy. Leave'm alone." I snapped out again, not caring who I was talking to when they disturbed my sleep. 

"Fine, but you know Kuroo was going to meet us tonight, that’s why I bugged you so much. Shouhei even already told him it was a bad idea." Taketora said and I heard him walk to the other side of the room where everyone was currently sneaking out a window. 

The room grew quiet after that, but the light beside me, flooding behind my eyelids made me peek them open to see Kozume on his phone. "You're going to ruin your eyes doing that." I whispered. 

"Shh, go to sleep." Kozume whispered back, unfazed by my comment. 

"Are you playing a game or texting someone?" I asked, propping my head up on a hand, squinting to see, but all I could really see was light. 

"Both, I guess." 

I watched for a while, yawning occasionally, before I finally let my curiosity get the better and I crawled a bit closer over the gap between our futons. "What kind of game?" 

Kozume looked at me, "I thought you were going to sleep." 

"I was, but it takeS my mind a bit to shut down again if I'm woken up... sometimes." I explained, already looking at his game. It was some kind of monster killing game. "Do you stay up playing games a lot? You were up last night, too." 

Kozume hummed, "Yeah, It's a pretty bad habit." He shifted so he could play and we could see better. 

"I only have a Wii at home, but with senior year I haven't had time to relax with it." I watched his thumbs move through the menus quickly and just as quickly killing monsters when he came across them. I reached back to grab my pillow so I could lay my chin on it while I watched. 

"I have a Wii, I'll give you my Wii ID so you can add me, maybe we have some games in common." Kozume said quietly.

I nodded, "That sounds cool, but don't laugh at how little games I have." 

Kozume glanced at me, and I didn't know if it was light play but I was pretty sure he smiled at me. "Don't worry, I won't judge if you don't judge me for how many I do have. What's the newest game you have?" 

"Honestly... Pokèmon. I haven't gotten far though." I watched him kill a boss monster quietly. 

"That's actually cool, we can team up in that game and I can help you power level." Kozume offered.

"You can do that?" my voice accidentally got loud and I briefly covered my mouth with my pillow. There was a still moment in the dark room, then Kozume looked at me again. 

"Yes," Kozume's voice was purposely lower, "You can, loud mouth." 

"Shh, it was an accident." I cuddled my pillow under my chin again and yawned. 

I watched him play for a while, probably longer than either of us expected, but I noticed that Kozume had incredible focus, a lot like when I saw him play volleyball. I could respect that, someone who put 100% of themselves into anything their interested in. Then I suddenly remembered where I've seen hair like his. 

"You... were there last year when Karasuno lost. I watched the live feeds, I remember your hair, Kozume-san. I remember seeing you walk up to Hinata-chan before the feed cut out." 

Kozume was looking at me, brows lifted, and puzzled. "Yeah, I was there, but where did this come from?" 

"Sorry, I was vaguely thinking about it all day. Your unique dyed hair, made me feel like I knew you from somewhere. I just remembered it was on the feed of the matches." I tilted my head a little, "am I wrong?" 

"Uh, no, I was there, and I went to the court after they lost to let Shoyo watched the recordings. I knew he would want it, but I didn't think anyone would notice me sneaking down there." Kozume turned his head and let his hair obscure his face. 

"It wasn't that noticeable, don't worry." I whispered. 

"But you noticed." he mumbled and did look at me as I chuckled softly. After a moment, he asked, "can I ask you something?" 

"Mhm." I nodded, "sure, go ahead, but maybe kill that monster first." I said, pointing to his game that went on being unintentionally ignored. 

He quickly killed it, and turned the game off and set the phone almost between us so the light shone upwards. "Did you tell Taketora you didn't want to go with them because you heard our argument today, or because... you-" 

"I admit I had time to think about that a lot today as well." I interrupted since he seemed to have a stammer into his question. "but I didn't want to go because I'm not interested for one, and two... Most importantly, I'm dead ass tired from practice. I don't have the energy to go running around Tokyo all night." 

Kozume nodded his head a bit, "Okay." 

I folded an arm flat under my pillow and laid my head down, "was that important to you? Whether I really wanted to go or not?" 

That got a reaction from him. Kozume shifted away a little and stared at me. "I- no, I would have... uhm, just felt bad if I was the reason you didn't go have fun with the others." 

"I'm not the only one who didn't go though." I sat up on my elbow again, feeling a strange tickle floating between my chest and belly. "This has actually been on my mind, too... about why you were nearly hounded to go, but you refused." I glanced down at Kozume's phone. "I've been wanted to asked since I overheard that conversation today, even though it has nothing to do with me." 

"The reason?" Kozume asked, as if he were searching for the answer, too. "Tora- Taketora wanted me to go because Kuroo told him to make me go." 

"I've heard that name a few times now..." 

Kozume glanced up, "Kuroo? He is Nakoma's former captain, and... I grew up with him. He is a little over protective, and still tries to do unnecessary things for me." 

"Like getting you laid?" I asked without a filter, and could almost see the color in Kozume's face change. 

"Yeah, well, I don't want it. I honestly don't care if I stay a virgin. I'm just not interested." Kozume sounded a little heated on the subject, and I watched him shift more in a cocoon. 

I sighed, "okay, that I think I can understand. It’s not right to force someone not interested." I admit, that did irritate me, and it showed a little in my tone.

Kozume looked up, "I don't blame them for trying. I've just never been interested. Not even when guys show off porn mags in class, or when Kuroo gave me a porn DVD one time. I didn't watch it until he put it in and made me watch." 

I had a sort of disgusting expression, but more confused than anything. "Wow... Now I wanna know why your childhood friend is so desperate to get you hooked on porn." I stifled a yawn. "I mean... it's not really all that great. Don't get me wrong, I'm a healthy teenage boy, but I think I'm with you on this. That's just too much, you should have the freedom and privacy to choose when you want to be interested in girls." 

I laughed a little, "I would use Aone as an example of abstinence, but I already know who he has eyes for." 

"Who?" Kozume asked, curiosity bringing him out again to lean near me and touched his phone to bring the back light back up after it had dimmed. 

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else." I whispered lower.

"Who would I honestly tell?" Kozume asked, confusion in his eyes. 

"It's someone here at the camp, too, so you gotta promise." I even stuck up a pinky finger like a kid. 

Kozume rolled his eyes, but made the pinky swear. When he did, I leaned close to whisper close to his ear, close enough to feel his jump when I spoke. "Shoyo Hinata." When I moved back, Kozume was already inhaling and without thinking, I reached out to clap a hand over his mouth and grab the back of his head with my other hand so he couldn't escape. "Shhhhh!" 

We both waited a few second until Kozume breathed through his nose and nodded his head, calm again. I withdrew my hands slowly, and waited. 

Kozume was still breathing, before he looked up at me. "Are you sure? Because I like Shoyo, too, but like in a cute little brother sort of way." 

I chuckled, "I'm pretty sure. Aone is a pretty aloof guy, and I grew up with him. He treats me like a brother, but when he started getting closer to little Hina-chan, I saw the change in him. Watch him tomorrow, I dare you. You'll probably see him leaving his duties to go hang out with Hinata. I'm sure you heard me yell for him a few times even today." 

Kozume was rubbing his hands up his cheeks. "Wow... What about Hinata? How does he feel?" 

"Oh, I have no idea. I personally don't actually know him too well." I admitted. 

"Hm, he hasn't said anything to me about Aone, but he is a little spacey." Kozume picked up his phone and turned on some quiet music. It was like soft background music over our whispers. However, that idea backfired a little when rustling a little bit away drew our attention and someone mumbled something.

I sat up, "Come on, let go get something to drink then come back to bed." I suggested, and Kozume nodded. He picked up his phone, turned the music off and stood up to followed me through the room until we got to the hallway. It was dark, but not as dark, so we didn't really need the phone light.

I only took a few steps before I turned back to Kozume. "Remind me again where the vending machines are." 

"They're outside, Futakuchi-san." He said and took the lead. "Follow me." 

I only followed for a moment, once outside, I walked beside him, and breathed in the night air. "It feels better out here. I could almost sleep outside tonight." 

Kozume shook his head, "Too many bugs." 

I laughed, "true." 

It was a Short quiet walk to the vending machines, we both got a carton of milk to drink, mine was chocolate and his strawberry. We silently decided to sit on the bench nearby while we drank them. It was a really nice night, and the crisp warm air was honestly waking me up more. "These are the kind of nights I love to spend practicing alone in my backyard." 

"These are the kind of nights I like to stay inside under the AC." Kozume added and I laughed again. "Futakuchi-san, may I ask another personal question since we were on the topic?" he asked after a few thoughtful seconds of sipping his strawberry milk.

When I nodded I noticed he shifted where he sat as if feeling uncomfortable. "You were talking as if you have experience with... girls and such." 

"Hm?" I hummed, "No... My friends often tell me, 'Kenji, you look like a Playboy, you must be banging a ton of chicks.' When in reality, I'm just as much a virgin as you are. I can't really help the way I look, but maybe I act a little too confident. Aone told me I let the title "Ace" get to my head last year. I was just a cocky guy I guess." 

"You still are." Kozume accused and I looked over with a fake gasp that made us both laugh light-heartedly. “Wow, you’re a dork.” He accused. 

"Nah, you're right, I am." I glanced over, "but I think you probably have more confidence than I do." 

Kozume snorted, "I doubt that." 

"No, no, I'm serious. Not every guy has the balls to sit on another guy's lap like you did." That earned me a jab in the shoulder. "Ouch, that bet is still ongoing, y'know."

Kozume huffed, "As the winner, I can make the bet void. It's not like you'd quietly let some guy just randomly sit on you anyway." 

I blinked, "I don't think I ever actually complained, Kozume-san." My eyes widened when. Kozume gave me an odd look and almost immediately stood up. I felt a single thump in my heart, like something just kicked it when I was forced to sit back by Kozume as he climbed and sat sideways on my thighs. 

I swallowed. Last time we did this it felt seriously awkward, and we both wanted to get away from it. Now, it was dark, it was quiet, no one was watching, no one could see, and it still felt awkward, but I didn't feel the same aversion as before. 

Neither one of us said anything until I coughed a bit and adjusted my legs under his weight. "I thought it would be more boney." 

"W-what?" Kozume looked up, surprise staining his cheeks. 

"Your butt, I thought it would be boney, but it's actually soft and doesn't hurt at all." I chuckled as my comment didn't seem to help any with Kozume's embarrassment. "I mean... Mai sat on my lap once on a crowded bus. She doesn't have any ass and it hurt like hell the whole ride." 

"Mai? Your Manager?" Kozume asked. 

I nodded, "Yeah, she grew up with me and Aone, just at school though, she didn't live close to us." 

"Oh." He nodded and turned away again to sip his milk. 

I watched for a moment, leaning back and setting my arms over the back of the bench. "What about you?" 

Kozume gave me a sideways glance, "What about me?" 

"Have you ever felt the pain of a boney ass?" I asked, flashing a teasing smile. I watched his eyes widen slightly and a blush flood his face before he looked away. *Is he that innocent?* 

"N... No, there aren't many people small enough to sit on my lap without crushing me." He sounded like he was pouting, but I couldn't see from the angle. 

Leaning over to see his face, I said the first thing that popped into my head. "They don't have to be smaller than you. You aren't even that small, probably average height-" 

"For a girl, I'm average. For a guy, I'm lacking a bit." he looked at me, "Like I said, I'm small. And if you ever tell anyone I admitted that, I'll cut you." 

I snorted and held my hands up. "You're secret is safe with me." It got quiet again, and with each second Kozume looked more and more nervous sitting unnaturally on my lap. "If you ask me, Kozume, I think you're as big as you're supposed to be. It may not mean much coming from a guy who is six-fwet tall, but I think you should enjoy it. You get to sit on people and know you won't kill them, and I'm sure the girls at your school think you're cute." 

Kozume cringed, visibly cringed and it showed on his face magnificently. "Do you have any idea what it's like to fall asleep on the roof and wake up with pigtails?" 

I snorted and covered my mouth until I had control over my giggles. "Nope, no, I haven't experienced that one yet." My eyes followed Kozume's hand as it moved up to pull his fingers through his hair. "Why not cut you hair?" 

Kozume pulled at the side to cover his face. "No- I-" he looked up again, "how did we start talking about hair? We were talking about the bet." 

I hummed slowly, "Well, you brought up hair. I supposed I led us there from when I noticed how nice your ass feels compared to others I've felt." as a joke, I reached around and slipped my hand under Kozume's butt to squeeze it hard. I learned two things just then. One, Kozume's butt cheek fit perfectly in my hand, and two... he didn't like his ass being grabbed. 

Kozume's fist planted into my cheek so fast that it surprised us both. "Oh! I- Wow, I did not mean to punch you." Kozume was kind of touching my face now, half not wanting to and the other half looking as if he wasn't sure he could or should. "It was reflex, Futakuchi, I'm sorry." 

"Ah..." I rubbed my jaw and moved it to make sure nothing was broken. "No, it's okay, I deserved that." I said and looked up, "that's a pretty good reflex to have, but maybe not for friends in the future." 

Kozume pouted, he tried to hide it, but I could see it. "I am sorry, but it wasn't my fault."

I agreed, "It was mine, I shouldn't have touched your butt without asking." 

"Yeah..." Kozume looked away and after a few seconds he suddenly got up and took a few steps away. "S-so ask next time and you won't be hit." 

I watched Kozume glance back, caught a glimpse of a red complexion before he started walked away. "Wait-" 

"It's getting late, Futakuchi-san, we should head back before we get in trouble." Kozume called back. 

I was on my feet, but my mind was still stuttering for a moment longer. I ran to catch up to the little red tracksuit jacket just before we re-entered the building. Only... the door was locked. "Uh oh." I said, but Kozume was already turned back around and leaving me behind again. "Where-" 

"The window to the room is open." Kozume said over his shoulder. 

*Whoa, slow down.* Everything seemed to be in faster forward all of a sudden and I was still on pause trying to catch up. When I finally did it was outside the room. There were a couple of crates below the window that helped the others to escape before. "Kozume- Wait, Kozume, stop!" My voice was louder than I intended, but it got Kozume to finally stop and wait for me. 

I moved to stand in front of him, and I felt like a bully for doing this when he very obviously didn't want to talk anymore. Enough so that he would try to run away when we are going to the same place. "Kozume... I want to ask about what you just said back there." I watched him tense up, "but I'm willing to let you just explain it to me on your own in your own time." This got him to look up at me. 

Kozume was surprised, his expression that of someone who is experiencing something for the first time. "Re...really? You... wouldn't even mind if I never talked about it?"

I shrugged and put more of my weight on one leg with my arms seemingly having lost their purposes in existing. "I mean... Yeah, I'm really curious, like- literally could I just touch you if I asked? Or what? I- Wow, this is confusing on so many levels." I looked down at him and breathed, "I just... I think I need to ask. After everything I've seen and heard in literally just the last few hours... I know you noticed me catching you looking all day. But I couldn’t tell what for, and until… just now, I thought it was because- and now I think I’m getting really ahead of myself with theories.“ I stopped myself from rambling more and took a deep breath. “Kozume, are you gay? or bi, maybe?" I put a hand up before he could react, "wait, no, that's really personal, I shouldn't just ask-" 

"I don't know." Kozume said, not listening to me. "I... I honestly don't know that answer. Thinking about girls and guys is the same for me. I guess... It’s a question I’ve already asked myself a few times." He looked down and pulled the tops of the zipper sides up to his cheeks to hide. "I don't know why, but it felt easy to talk to you, like when I'm with Shoyo." He made a sound, "but with Shoyo, I just feel like a big brother and I should take care of him." 

"What about with you childhood friend? You're close to him, no doubt." I said, honestly just trying to help. 

Kozume shook his head. "Kuroo is my best friend, like how you and Aone-san are. Close, but you still have secrets from Aone, too, don't you?" 

I nodded, "Sure, I do." My lungs stopped when Kozume looked up at me. 

"Then why do I feel comfortable enough to be talking to you about this right now?" He asked, and pushed his hands through he hair. "I can't talk to Kuroo about this, or Shoyo." 

I had to breathe, this was heavier than I thought it would be. "Maybe... you somehow knew I would never tell anyone." I reached out to nudge lightly on his arm before leading us away from the open window and quietly walked us up a slope that allowed us to see over the school's campus. "If we get caught up here we are doomed, but at least you won't be overheard." I sat down and started to pat the grass beside me, but shifted the offer at the last second to my lap as I bent and crossed my legs. 

"I-" Kozume looked around as if expecting someone to actually see us. 

"It's okay, I don't mind." I said, and I really meant it. I didn't mind one bit, and that did bother me some. "Sometimes… human touch can make things easier, Kozume-san.”

He still hesitated, but eventually crawled down and back on my lap. With the way I had my legs, Kozume was forced to sit closer and less rigidly than before. "Did you just make that up?" he asked, trying not to look up since out heads were a little close. 

"Uhm, no. I probably heard it on a movie for something." I said and leaned back on my palms because the only other place to put my arms comfortably would be around Kozume, and that wasn’t going to happen. 

Kozume sighed a quiet short laugh, "So why'd you bring us up here?" 

"It's secluded, I guess." I replied, "it's quiet and the breeze is nice. You can take your time talking here." I took my weight on hand and held the other out in front of Kozume to stop him from retorting. "Don't mind anything. You said you feel comfortable talking to me, so here I am. Listening." 

Kozume had to turn and press his hands against my chest to sit up and look at me. "Why, though? What do you get out of listening to me whine?" 

I smiled and looked down at his hands, "I get... human contact." I whispered. "I don't know yet, but before I knew it I was chasing after you and wondering if you really meant what I think you meant." I looked up, "Maybe this will be easier if I talk first..." 

Kozume looked confused as he tilted his head slightly at me in question. 

"I wasn't 100% honest before. The reason why I didn't seem fazed when we saw my juniors kissing." I glanced down and picked at the grass beside us. "It's true I don't discriminate, and it doesn't bother me. Mh... But it's because I'm pretty much like you, I don't understand my own sexuality. Things that attract me don't stop at gender; male, female, somewhere in the middle... If I'm attracted, my mind sometimes even forgets to notice if something isn't the norm." I swallowed, "Because... you were right about me. There are things that I don't even tell even my closest friend even though said friend is a big closet case for a certain little crow." I chuckled when Kozume got tickled by my out of place scrutiny. 

I looked up, "I suppose it's also easy for me to talk to you, too, Kozume." 

Kozume looked away and careful leaned down to where he had been against my chest with the back of his shoulder. He crossed his arms and took a deep breath. "I don't even know why it's bothered me so much. I'm pretty damn sure Kuroo would support me, he's been dating a guy since graduation, but he promised me to secrecy until they were ready to come out." 

"Really? Anyone I would know?" I asked. 

Kozume hummed and shrugged, "Do you know Fukurodani's former Captain?" 

"Uh...the spikey haired guy. I saw him in last year's matches. Byaku- Boko- Baku-" 

"Bokuto." Kozume supplied. "Yeah, It's him. They even went to the same University, and I guess since they are so happy and I'm one of the few that know, Kuroo wants me to be happy? Or find someone, too? I'm not even sure, but lately, he has been really annoying me with his whole 'Find Kenma a girlfriend' mission." 

I laughed, "Okay. That would annoy anyone, so it's not just you." 

"THANK YOU!" Kozume shouted. "And I'm still over here struggling to know if I even like girls or guys." 

I leaned back more on the hill, my elbows more comfortable to lean on, but Kozume hadn't expected me to lean back and grabbed hold on my shirt. I watched him realize I was just getting more comfortable, and he went back to partially leaning on his back against me. It was getting closer to him laying on top, though. "Hmm, well you're going to hate this question, but have you ever tried looking at gay porn?" 

Kozume struggled to get up, and I let myself go to lay on the ground so I could reach out and steady his arms. "No, hear me out. I'm being serious, what do you feel when you see it? What... What did you feel when you saw Yosano and Terada kissing?" 

Kozume made an awkward sound and only half struggled before he just pushed his arms into my hands, forcing my arms back against ground. "What did you feel when you saw them?" he asked me instead. 

"I felt... surprise because I wasn't aware they were dating, or just fooling around, one of the two. Then, honestly... I was jealous of them and happy for them at the same time because they have someone to share that kind of connection with." 

Kozume blinked and pulled his arms from my hold so he could just lean with a hand on my chest. "Really?" he asked and I answered with a simple nod. "I... I felt embarrassed." 

"Embarrassed over what?" 

"Over... I felt like... because I saw that someone would find out about the feelings I have. How I'm not disgusted or weirded out by two guys kissing." He turned he face away into the shadows. "and how I've thought about how it might feel."


	7. Visitor

The sound of the cicadas was deafening, it sounded as if a few were in the tree above us. *Am I reading these signs right? Does he...* I took a breath, "Kozume... uhm... you can punch me again if you want, but..." I pushed myself up again, surprising Kozume and making him look up again. "Do you... want to try? I mean, know... know what it feels like?" *smooth.* 

"I-" Kozume sat up further, "It wouldn't be fair to you, right?" 

*That means he does!* Smiling, I gained a little confidence from his words and leaned to pull Kozume's eyes back towards me again. "And what if I told you that I want to, too?" 

He did look up at me this time. "Y-you do?" 

Nodding, I pushed myself up more so I wasn't leaning back now and slowly places my hands on Kozume. One on his knee, which was small enough that my fingers just naturally curled around under his knee. My other hand found a comfortable spot stretched behind Kozume's back and slipped right in under his ribs where I found a dip in his silhouette. "Kozume, I've been trying to make you feel better this whole time by telling you that I am also comfortable enough to talk about these secrets with you." 

I leaned my face closer, but for some reason I wanted him to close the rest of the distance. I couldn't help smiling when he instinctively nudged closer but gasped when he caught himself. "It's okay." I whispered and closed my eyes. I could feel his body shifting as he gained and lost courage many times. Then finally I felt the tiniest of pressures touch my lips. 

I wasn't sure where I learned this, or why I did it now. I felt that tiny kiss and then it was gone just as fast, and my hand was already moving up to dig under Kozume's hair and pull him back. I selfishly kissed him the way I wanted to, there was only regret in my action up until the point that I felt and heard Kozume sigh into the kiss and melt against me. 

*Is he making sounds- Holy fu- he's moaning!?* my brain screamed this at me as I heard consecutive breathy sighs with soft little moans tailed at the end. My body answered his moans and my hands pulled him closer to me. 

By the time we were able to pull apart, Kozume's arms were slipping down from around my neck, my hands still held him as physically close as possible, and we were both out of breath.

"So how was it?" I asked.

"How was what?" Kozume asked, his head bent down and leaned against my shoulder. 

"How was your first kiss with a guy?" 

Kozume actually chuckled, "I don't know, you tell me." 

I looked down, a slow grin spreading, "Tease all you want, I thoroughly enjoyed my first kiss." 

Kozume sat up and looked at me with slightly widened eyes. "Your... first kiss? Ever?" 

"Don't be that surprised. I told you, I look like a playboy, but I'm not." I smiled, "how does it feel taking someone's important first kiss?" 

"I- You... you- that definitely didn't feel like a first time kiss you just gave me." Kozume touched his lips. 

I leaned back again, making Kozume lose his balance and have to hold himself up on his own again. "I was ambitious, and I also wanted to kiss you." 

Kozume blushed, "that was also my first kiss, so I really enjoyed it." he finally admitted after several cicada cries. "Thank you." 

"I should be the one saying thank you. Those cute little sounds you were making are branding into my memory." 

"Wha- I wasn't making any sounds." Kozume retorted. 

"You were. You were making soft moaning sounds." I smiled as Kozume hid his face from me again. 

"I was not! Please forget you heard it." He whined.

I shook my head, "No can do. I'll remember my first kiss for as long as I live."

Kozume groaned and crawled off of my lap. "I think it's time to go back in." 

"Already?" I asked, not moving yet. 

"Yes, before we get caught out here." He stepped down as if to leave me, but he stopped and turned towards me. He was in the moonlight now and I could see how stained his face was from blushing. Still, he held a hand out to me. "Let's go to sleep." 

Breathing, I nodded and took his hand to let him pull me up. I slipped a little taking the few steps down to walk beside him, but luckily caught myself and saved my sleep clothes from grass stains. 

Once we were back at the window, I helped Kozume with a little boost to get up through the window. This didn't seem to end well because I could hear him hit the floor inside. Getting up on the boxes, I peeked inside. "Are you okay?" I whispered. 

Kozume sat up from where he landed on the floor and nodded. Then moved out of the way to let me in. I wasn't any quieter, the window sill creaked under my weight and I stumbled getting fully inside, too. We ended up sitting on the floor by the window and quietly laughing at each other. 

Our beds were on the other side of the room, so we had to sneak through the few sleeping people in the room. I didn't know why, but we were both half crouched down as we tiptoed through the room. Kozume was in front, and I somehow naturally found my hands holding onto his hips as my guide through the darkness. We were almost to our beds when Kozume stopped and reached back to pat my arm and grab my shirt sleeve. 

Peeking around Kozume, I saw a light shining at us, and none other than Akaashi-san was the welder of the light. Kozume seemed frozen in place, so I stepped around him and took his hand to keep guiding him back to his bed. 

As we passed Akaashi, I smiled a little. "Sorry to wake you up, man." 

I didn't really think Akaashi would raise an alarm for us, but he did anyway. "Why are you two coming in through the window at nearly two in the morning?" 

"Two?" I whispered to Kozume. "We were out there that long?" Kozume just shrugged and moved to partially hide behind me. I decided to answer Akaashi's question. "We went out to get something to drink and got locked out." I explained with careful vagueness. 

I didn't know Akaashi well, but he seemed protective of Kozume, so when he just let this slide I was admittedly surprised. 

"Alright, just go to bed before all that noise wakes up the coaches." Akaashi said and turned over in his futon. 

With the success of getting through the surprise night guard, we quietly walked back to our beds and crawled back into them. I turned under the thin blanket until I was facing Kozume again and found him watching me first. 

I put a finger to my lips, silently asking Kozume stay quiet as I crawled closer to him. Kozume leaned away with a small gasp after realizing what I was doing. "shhh. Just a little more deviance before I have to be a good rival captain again." I whispered with my heart pounding. I waiting until Kozume accepted, and when he closed his eyes and lay still for me I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. 

Both of us were having trouble controlling our breathing from just a small kiss, and when Kozume failed at being quiet I pulled away. My heart leapt hard when Kozume reached up to grab my hair and chase after my lips. *Holy shit!* I sighed a little loudly into his kiss before finally being allowed to pull away. 

I stared down at him, I could barely see him in the dark room, but with the little light getting in from the windows, I could see how he was looking at me when he thought I couldn't see. *I'm definitely going to remember this... forever.* I thought soundly. I barely knew Kozume Kenma, but here we were; nearly out of breath in a deafeningly quiet room. I just now realized that Kozume attacked me back like I had done to him outside. My answering smirk was lopsided, “you’re pretty cheeky, aren’t you?”

Kozume made a face and squirmed down some as if to play innocent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain Futakuchi.” 

I wanted to kiss him more, but I could already feel my restraint wavering. "Get some sleep, now. Good night, Kozume." I whispered and felt his fingers slip from my hair down to my shoulder. 

"Good night." he replied, but when I still didn't move, he pushed on my shoulder. "Good night to your own futon, Captain Futakuchi." He repeated my name formally again, but with a little more spice behind it which made me chuckle softly. 

I gave in and moved back to my pillow on my futon, but I stayed pretty close to the edge. I noticed Kozume had rolled to do the same. It was as if the gap suddenly made me feel lonely after feeling his touch for the last couple of hours.

My eyes were shutting though, and sooner than I would have hoped. After some time of fighting sleep, in between sleepy blinks, I noticed Kozume's blanket moving. He squirmed sleepily until he found a comfortable position and seemed to fall asleep rather quickly. It still took me a bit to fall asleep, but when I did, it felt like I barely just got to sleep when I was woken up by noises from the other side of the room. The whispers were a dead giveaway on who it was, too. I tilted my head a bit to peek up at the people climbing through the window just before the sun was up. 

They stunk and were too loud, so I was afraid they'd wake up Kozume, too. Looking back across the gap all I could see was the top of Kozume's head, so I couldn't see his face. I was still half asleep, but for some reason I kept blinking my eyes open to check on him. After a particularly loud sound, I watched Kozume stuggle under him blankets but still remained hidden.

The partiers were still streaming in and getting settled in for maybe an hour or so of sleep. I kept my eyes closed now and pretended to sleep, if not actually fall back to sleep. A moment later some footsteps got really close. I heard some rustling, then someone shushing another. 

I opened one of my eyes and I see Kozume pulling his covers back to look up at a man with thick black messy hair. 

"Yo." The man whispered with a smile. 

Kozume looked surprised at first, then a bit sullen. "Go away, let me sleep, Kuroo." 

"Ouch, that's how you treat your best friend?" Kuroo said. "I'm risking a lot to come visit you." 

"Like I care. Go back to your school before I call your mom and tell her you're bugging me again." Kozume threatened, and I hid a stifled laugh under my blanket. 

Kuroo sighed, "Kenma, don't be like that. At least tell me why you didn't come last night." 

Kozume peeked out to the side away from his visitor, and from Kuroo's point of view Kozume might look like he was thinking of an answer, but from my point of view, he was staring at me and I smiled when I saw him shy away when he saw me awake and staring back.

"I-..." Kozume stuttered. "I- I don't need slutty girls to have fun." Kozume buried himself under his blanket. "You of all people..." 

"Me of all people, what?" Kuroo asked, tugging at the blanket. 

"Just shut up and go away." Kozume said again, struggling to keep the blanket and his voice down. 

"Keeenma-" 

"Um, hey," I sat up on an elbow. "I don't know you, but could you please keep it down? People are still trying to sleep, and... I think you're bothering Kozume-san." I wasn't trying to pick a fight, but me being tired wasn't in anyone’s favor. I hoped I didn't just cause more trouble.

Kuroo gave me a look up and down, "Dateko is here this year? I think I heard someone mention that last night." 

I suppose he expected a retort, but I just stayed silent, and tiredly staring up at him. I notice that Kozume came out a little and was staring at me again. 

Kuroo's attitude changed when he thought he wouldn't be able to get a reaction out of me, "Yeah, dude, so sorry, I'm a graduate from here and wanted to see my friend." he explained. 

I nodded, "I overheard, but he doesn't sound happy and you're being too loud before the sun is up, man." 

Kozume huffed irritably and pushed himself up onto his knees to gave Kuroo a quick hug. "There, now get out." 

Kuroo was immediately appeased, "alright, you win, I'm leaving. Stop ignoring my texts, 'kay?" He stood up and waved to the other members who were also awake. 

"I will after I call your mom." Kozume grumbled and snuggled back down. 

"Wha- Kenma!" Kuroo reached down, but Akaashi was suddenly there dragging Kuroo up by his shirt collar. "A-A-Akaashi, long time no see." 

"You. Out. Now." Akaashi had a threatening tone. He pointed down to me and Kozume, "You two. You shouldn't be depriving people of sleep after sneaking in and out of the room all night." 

Akaashi just did us dirty by ratting us out in front of everyone awake. I looked at Kozume and he had about the same guilty expression I did, and the rest of the room who heard all looked shocked. Shocked that Kozume and I were hanging out together all night and not in the room. 

Kuroo looked like he had questions, a lot of them, but before he could really ask any, Akaashi was shoving him out the door. Not even the window to sneak out, just out the door. When Akaashi turned back around, he huffed at the eyes watching him. "Go to sleep, seriously." He exhaled and got back in his futon to do just that. 

Kozume promptly burrowed back down until I couldn't see him at all. I sighed, and decided to do the same thing. I snuggled back into a comfortable position, and yawned hard and long. While yawning, I felt fingers brush against my arm, then up to tug my T-shirt sleeve. 

“Hm?”I hummed. 

“Thanks you.” I heard Kozume whisper from under his blanket before retracting his hand. I didn’t say anything back, but I did roll onto my side and fell back asleep while facing Kozume's cocoon.

~

This time I was not the last one awake, but I wasn't the first either. I yawned the instant I woke up, and groaned loudly through the urges to stretch. Breathing deeply, I turned onto my side and reached over to poke the top of the blanket beside me. 

Kozume made a sound inside his cocoon and burrowed deeper. I thought I should probably just get up to go get ready for the day, but after a few seconds of me sitting up and yawning again, Kozume came out of his cocoon. 

"Good morning." I said as I moved my blanket off of me.

"Mornin'" Kozume mumbled back.

Several people were up and putting their futons away, so it wasn't really the best time to talk about last night no matter how much I wanted to. "You probably have a few more minutes, I'm gonna go ahead and get up." I said quietly to Kozume. He just nodded and withdrew back into his cocoon. 

For a boy to be that cute... it had to be some sort of spell he was using. *Right?*

After getting up and putting my futon away I grabbed my things and headed for the showers. It was already loud with chatter in the showers with the first and second years getting up and ready, too. 

I was still shaving when I spotted Kozume coming in, and I couldn't help taking the moment to watch him shove Lev away when he was nearly tackled by the giant. Lev was like a giraffe on the wet floors and fell on his ass hard for everyone's enjoyment. Even I was laughing as Kozume passed behind me. Mine was the only laugh to suddenly stop though when I felt him just barely brush against me as he walked passed. 

My mind stalled, and all I could do was watch Kozume enter a shower stall without so much as an confirmation glance back to me. 

*No no no.* I turned back to the mirror. “I’m just imagining things.” I muttered to myself.


	8. 49 minutes

I didn't see Kozume again until I was eating breakfast in the cafeteria. Aone was sitting beside me, and Sakunami was sitting across from me talking about something I already wasn't listening to. Now he noticed how my eyes were tracing through the room. 

"What are you staring at, Captain? You aren't even listening." Sakunami said and turned to see what I was looking at, but Kozume wasn't the only one in line to get food. 

"Nothing. I was just lost in thought." I said and took a bite. I pretended to listen to Saku-chan more, or at least I was aware of the subject now. However, my eyes just wandered up again to follow a cute kitty working his way through the room. I was aware my head kept floating up into the clouds, but I just couldn’t get over the fact that I kissed Kozume Kenma last night. 

Kozume got his food, and was headed towards a table with two of his first years sitting at it, but someone with spikey hair and a loud mouth ambushed him. I thought it was funny how Kozume didn't even hide his displeasure. 

After a minute or two of being bothered, Kozume growled something and turned to find somewhere else to eat. He looked right at me, and I could tell what he was thinking. It was the same as me, we werent sure sitting together would be a great idea since we now held this secret. 

*Or is that just me?* I gave a quick, subtle wave to him to come over, and it was like that was all he needed, the permission and excuse. Kozume came up and sat beside me. Still, I wanted to talk about last night, but I was starting to realize there is no such thing as private conversations here. 

"Captain?" Saku-chan asked from the other side of the table. 

"Hm?" I looked up and rested my chin on my hand over the table. 

"I didn't know you and Nekoma's Vice-Captain were so close." he stated.

I glanced down at the table, "I'm, yeah. We made for fast friends, I suppose. Right, Kozume…-san?" I asked, looking to my side and subtly tapped a finger under his elbow. Partly to gain his attention and also to tease him some. 

Kozume sat up straight when he felt my touch, and I watched his cheeks dust with color. "Y-yeah... Fast friends." 

"… I see." Sakunami said at length. 

Then a new person popped up at our table, Akaashi. I noticed how his teammates were sad he didn't join them, but here he was, sitting with our odd group. 

"Good morning, Akaashi-san." I said first and ate some more of my breakfast before it went cold. 

"Good morning, or it would be if it weren't for so many people waking me up last night." he grumbled, obviously not a morning person, but a bitter one. 

"Heh, sorry about that. If I had known the door would lock, I would have left a shoe in it or something." I said, and glanced back at Kozume who was quietly eating his breakfast, or rather... picking it apart and eating only what he liked. 

Akaashi sighed, "no, it wasn't just you two. It was the rest of them." 

I could tell Akaashi was being a little vague on the details because Sakunami was a year younger. "I do still feel little bad." 

Akaashi didn't answer me, he was looking at Kozume who was ignoring all of us. "It's fine." he said after a moment, "it must have been important if Kenma wanted to talk." 

Kozume looked up, "I don't need you to watch me... I know Kuroo asked you to." 

"He did, but I'm not doing it for him." Akaashi replied. 

I had to interject a little. "Kuroo-san is having you watch Kozume?" I asked Akaashi. "Why?"

"You know Kuroo?” Akaashi asked in return, surprised on his face. 

"No, I met him when the other got back. He snuck in." I explained.

"He just came to mess with me." Kozume added. 

"Oh, I see. I was just trying to ignore all the noise." Akaashi paused to eat a little. "Well, yes, he asked me look out for Kenma, but I'm your friend, too, so I'm really just looking out for you." 

Kozume sighed but nodded. "I just don't need or want to be treated like some fragile thing." 

"I understand." Akaashi said. “But that’s not the intension here.”

With the table going quiet, Aone was the first to get up and leave with just a grunt as his comment. 

"See you in the gym, big guy." I replied, and before I could go on with eating, Sakunami got up, too.

"I'll make sure the first years don't cause trouble." he said and I nodded. With just us three at the table, I grew a little bold and let my hand sink below the table. I touchef Kozume's thigh, and glanced down at him. He looked up at me at the same time and I caught that shy expression again as he squirmed slightly, but he didn’t move away from me. I knew I was likely to be hit, but I wiggled a finger under his thigh and held back a smirk when he jumped a little and bumped the table underneath. Effectively gaining Akaashi's attention. 

"I- I bit my lip." He lied quickly and grabbed my hand when Akaashi accepted the excuse and looked away again. 

I tried to squeeze again, but he pulled my hand away and slapped it lightly so it didn’t make sound. *Ticklish maybe?* I thought with a grin I couldn’t hide anymore because of the nice little detail I just found out.

Literally, part of me was beginning to wonder if last night had just been a dream. The proof was too real, though. Last night I kissed this boy, and today I didn’t even feel hesitation when I wanted to touch him secretly. 

I tried a few more time to tickle Kozume while we are, but the moment ended when everyone was given a five minute warning to finish eating and head to the gym to begin the morning program. 

I pretty much followed Kozume from the kitchens to the gym, and only separated when we had to join our respective teams. First was stretching, then warming up, and finally the drawing to see how we would begin the matches. Fukurodani got to pick today, and they chose Karasuno, so first match was Dateko verses Nekoma. 

I was thinking of strategies when I remembered me and Kozume talking about going all out, but looking over now, it seemed Taketora has almost all his players picked. *Next time* I shrugged. I was listening to Fukiage's play suggestion when I saw Taketora put Kozume in. I lost me train of thought and blurted out, "I'll go in this match." The others around me were confused, so I quickly covered, “I- I want to see how Reiji handles Setter position.” They agreed it was a nice idea for their most inexperienced player. 

Once the match was underway I did gain some real focus, and two things surprised me. One, Kozume still offered advice to Reiji from across the net, and two... Reiji wasn't a half bad setter. He had decent control, but was lacking in the power department which made spiking and defending hard for him. 

"Huh. Maybe you should think about becoming a setter, Reiji. I think your talents might be better suited for it." I said when we were in intermission. 

Kozume hung from the net a bit, having been listening in, "You're Captain is right, y'know. You're almost as good at setting than I was in my first year, and I wasn't a beginner like you are." 

Reiji seemed happy to receive such praise, even from an opponent. "I think I will. My father was a volleyball player, he was a middle blocker, so I wanted to be like him. I just didn't know how hard that would be." Reiji admitted, and I could sympathize with him. 

"Well, there you have it. You might even be a prodigy that we haven't uncovered yet." I said, and Kozume snorted. 

"Good luck with that, the other prodigy in this gym is a hardheaded foul-mouthed royal pain in the ass." Kozume said all this while pointing at Kageyama who was blissfully unaware of being called out.

I chuckled and grabbed the net above where Kozume was hanging from. "Was that a compliment or a diss to my underclassman?" 

Kozume hummed and leaned a bit closer. "Hmmm... both?" 

"Just don't let the royal pain in the ass find out you said it. I think he looks up to you." I smiled when Kozume groaned. 

"Please, It's only because I'm smarter than he is. He is just a volleyball genius." Kozume let the net go and put his hands on his hips. 

"And probably because you have more experience." I added, I wanted to talk more, but the whistle blew and we had to continue the game. In the end... Nekoma won again. They were the only team we haven't beaten at all yet. 

I groaned after swallowing half the contents in my water bottle. "Man, I just can't beat that little kitty." 

"Uh, kitty?" Obara asked, a brow raised up at me. 

I nodded, "Yeah, Kozume. Doesn't he remind you an cat?" 

"Captain, I think you're hallucinating, maybe you should take a break." Obara said, shaking his head at me. 

I chuckled to myself and sat down on the floor to watch said little cat some more. 

The coaches were grumbling about everyone being slow today, but with most of the seniors exhausted from sleep deprivation, it was no wonder we were all slowing down today. By the time lunch rolled around we only got to play three matches, but we won two of them. 

I took my lunch up the hill outside to eat and relax under the shade of a tree with the wind blowing over me. The managers made sandwiches for everyone, and I took two up to my spot. I wolfed down one sandwich, and leaned back against the tree to take my time eating the second. I got full before I could finish it, though. 

I noticed that I had been blinded by hunger and didn't know where Kozume was, but I guessed I couldn't follow him like a puppy everywhere. I moved to the side of the tree so I could lay back against the hill and be half hidden from the view of others. With the hour for lunch, I wanted to nap a little. 

My spot wasn’t exactly exclusive, the hill outside the gym was used by at least half the other members of the camp. I listened to a few guys talking nearby with my eyes closed. I felt close to that nap I wanted when I felt my arm being poked. I opened my eyes to an upside-down Kozume. He had crawled around the back of the tree and was looking down at me now. 

"Will you come with me for a little while?" He asked in a whisper, and I nodded without hesitation. I started to sit up, but his grabbed my shoulder and held me down. "C-count to a hundred then follow me." Kozume got up and walked down the hill. He went to the side of the gym and looked back at me before disappearing from view. 

*Count to a hundred...* "One..." *Why do I have to count?* I made it to twenty-five before I could stay still any longer, so I got up and counted while I walked. I don't know what gods looked over me today, but no one bothered me, and I was at fifty when I reached the corner of the gym. I kept walking and counting down the side of the building until I made it to the other end, but still no sign of Kozume. "Seventy… -one..." Looking around, passed the gym were some club room buildings were, and what looked like an old classroom building before the bigger and sturdier main building came into view. 

I wouldn't have seen it if it weren't for the color. There was a red volleyball jacket draped over the window sill at the end of the older building. It was my only clue, and it was all I needed. Walking up to the open window, I picked up the jacket and peered inside the room. Kozume was definitely in there. He was sitting on top of a desk just waiting for me while he swung his legs lazily.

Kozume peeked up when he saw me, and watched as I climbed through the window. "You're early." He said as I walked over to him. 

"I admit, my patience didn't step up just now, and I lost count around seventy." I smiled when that made Kozume laugh even though I was just telling the truth. I moved through the room to stand in front of him. "but I'm here, and..." I placed his jacket on the desk beside him. "Im free for the next hour. What was you wanted to talk about?" 

"Technically, more like fifty minutes." 

I grinned, "And what do you plan on doing with me for the next...” I pretended to look at a watch on my wrist. “fourty-nine minutes." 

Kozume took a deep breath, and clutched at his shirt over his stomach. "Do I really have to play this game, Futakuchi? Isn't it already obvious?" his eyes were down cast but I could still see him nibbling on his already worried lip. 

Leaning in, I bent my head down closer. "It's obvious, but I just want to make sure I’m not the only one who’s been thinking about last night.” 

Kozume looked like he wanted to run away in all honesty, but he stayed, and without looking up he vaguely asked, “I- I wanted to know if… if I can try it again?”

The immediate answer in my head was a solid *YES!*, but I stayed composed. “And what is it you want to try again? I’m pretty dumb, so you have to be clear- Mh!" I was cut off and startled by Kozume sudden looking up and pressing his lips to mine. My brain caught up soon and I hummed into his kiss as I pressed closer. When I felt him push slightly on my shoulder I broke the kiss with a chuckle. "Damn, you are dangerous… and what’s with the sneak attack?" 

Kozume shushed me, actually shushed me, and reached his arms up over my shoulders to pull me back down. “You said it was obvious, so it wasn’t really a sneak attack.” 

“I think I hate it when you’re right.” The desk scraped the floor when I pressed in this time and wrapped my arms around him. Kozume made an adorable purring sound instead of whatever he was going to say, and my own voice came out as if to answer him. 

My moan got a reaction from Kozume that I hadn't expected, at least not yet. He moaned back and slipped his arms down around my waist like he was melting, but his hands kept moving and pushed their way up the back of my shirt. 

When I felt his blunt nails on my skin, I shivered and I knew I wasn't leaving this room unscathed. "Careful, you might start something here." I whispered.

Kozume nudged closer to whispered back against my chest. "Something, like what?" 

I need a second to think, and as I took the second, I touched Kozume’s hair near his jawline. “Something… I don’t think either of us are ready for.” I shifted my gaze to his and caught his attention before smirking, “but with the way your hands are still under my shirt, maybe I’m the only one hesitating to take my clothes off.” 

That got Kozume’s attention even more and he gasped and took his hands away like his hadn’t realized he had been touching and rubbing my lower back until now. “S-sorry! I just- I didn’t-“ 

I laughed a little, “it’s okay, Kozume. I don’t mind if you touch me, too.” I picked up his wrist and pressed his palm up to my shoulder. “It feels nice to be touched, but I’m just warning you that as a virgin, I probably don’t have very much willpower to resist things that feel good.” 

As I spoke, Kozume withdrew more and more in front of me. The blush he had before was spreading visibly down his neck as he bent his head down to try and hide his face. It was a small characteristic that seems so different from the Kozume I’d seen all before this. Under the shyness he was aggressive and strong, but this Kozume was going the opposite way. He was almost turning meek right in front of me. 

“I-“ Kozume shifted and sighed, “I don’t know why I did it. Y-you just felt warm through your clothes, and I just had this- a sudden urge to find out… what your skin felt like while you kissed me. I don’t-“ 

“Hey, I said it’s okay, didn’t I?” I put my hands on his thighs, “besides-“ I felt him squirm his legs a lot like he did this morning when I was toying with him. “If I weren’t okay with doing these things with you, I wouldn’t have followed so willingly.” 

His eyes met mine this time, I watch the bright irises twitch back and forth as he read my face. “Can… Futakuchi.. -san, can I touch you a little without you losing your control?” 

I chuckled at his request, but stood back up straight to tug at the hem of my shirt until I could pull it off over my head. “Yes, you can, but I’m not sure how much fun it’ll be.” I watched Kozume pick his hand up and reach out towards my stomach. Just before he touched, I spoke again and made him flinch. “You can call me by my first name, by the way.” 

He looked up, “why so suddenly?” 

I shrugged, “it just feels weird to be doing this with you and still being called by my last name.” 

Kozume had his finger paused still about an inch from actually touching me, “t-that might be difficult.” 

“How about I call you by your name as well?” 

“I don’t know. A lot of people already do because of Kuroo, so I’m used to it.” Kozume replied and glanced upwards, but quickly avert his eyes again. “Do what you want.” He mumbled.

A long moment passed before either of us spoke or moved. “How long is it going to take?” I asked. 

“To what?” Kozume was rightfully confused by my question, but only until it was replaced by surprise when I grabbed his hand and pulled it up to press against my chest. 

“To touch me, Kenma.” I whispered and watched how color stained across his entire face. Kozume even forgot to look away like normal because of his shock. I didn’t really hate that expression, and took it upon myself to see how far I could take it. Slowly, I pulled his hand down my chest and lower still. His eyes flicked down to watch me rub his fingers down my front. Just when his fingers were about to touch my naval, Kozume gasps and pulled his hand away. “Hehe, sorry, you were just taking forever.” 

“I-“ Kozume held his hand tightly to his own chest now. “Y- you-“ 

“Me?”

Kozume burrowed his face in his palms and breathed deeply, “You aren’t being fair. I wasn’t expecting that.” 

I leaned in closer, “You weren’t expecting what? To touch me or… for me to call your name?” I asked in a sneaky sort of way, which only made Kozume whine. 

“… Both.” 

I chuckled, “but you said you wanted to touch me and that you’re sooo used to being called by your name.” 

Kozume growled at me and pushed on my shoulder, “stop that, I just wasn’t… wasn’t ready.” 

I didn’t let him push me away, instead I kept feeling more and more sure of myself. I leaned in so I could speak near his ear. “Kenma?” I didn’t know is the proximity of my voice or me saying his name made him twitch again, but either way was good. “Are you ready now?” 

Rubbing his hands over his face, Kozume shook his head. “You’re really not being fair.” He peeked at me, “can I just kiss you again, Futakuchi? I’m more comfortable with just kissing.” 

Laughing, I stood back up. “Usually that’s supposed to go the other way around, you know.” I kept laughing when Kozume just shrugged. “Alright, I’ll kiss you, but I have a condition this time.” 

Kozume pouted slightly, “what?” 

“Just say my name and the kiss is all yours.” I replied with a smile. 

Kozume groaned and rolled his eyes. It took him a while, but he finally sighed and stood up. It wasn’t the reaction I was expecting, so I quickly started to say he didn’t have to if it was that hard. However, my words were cut sort as he snatched my shirt from my hands and reached up with his other to snag a handful of hair at the back of my head before pulling me down closer to his level. 

“Whoa.” Was all I could even think so say as I stared into his bright eyes. 

“You’re really frustrating, you know that?” Kozume asked. 

I smiled again and shrugged playfully. “It’s a gift.” 

He reached up with his other hand still holding my shirt. He pulled and leaned closer at the same time, “and stop poking me in public… Kenji.”

Hearing my name sent a flutter through my chest and I wondered briefly if this is what Kozume had just felt when I said his name before. As soon as Kozume closed the distance and kissed me again, I locked an arm low around his waist and took an involuntary step forward. Forcing Kozume backwards into the desk he’d just been sitting on and making the metal legs scratch across the tiles again. 

It was also Kozume who broke the kiss and pushed his hands to my shoulders to make me back up some when I thoughtlessly nudged forward again right away. “We should go back… before anyone comes looking.”

I sighed and nodded, “you’re right.” I agreed but my body didn’t seem to want to be as willing to back away as my mind was. 

Kozume looked up at me like he was wondering what I was doing. “Futa-Mh!“ I cut his words off, stealing another kiss without permission, but all the same. When my hands found their way around his back, I felt his body relax with a quiet sigh. 

I didn’t let Kozume escape this time when he tried to turn his head away. I quickly grabbed his jaw an tilted his face upward at the same time. I didn’t break the kiss until a strong shudder shook my body and mind. I pulled away with a weird sound escaping my throat and Kozume was left clinging back against the desk for support. His face was red and spread down until it disappeared under his shirt collar. 

“Wh- what was that?” Kozume asked with a shocked voice. He swallowed and stood up straight before turning away from me. I didn’t see that as a good sign at all, and took a step around him to see his face, but he just jerked when he noticed and turned away from me again. 

“Kozume? Did I hurt you?” I asked, wondering if it’s even possible to hurt someone with a kiss, but Kozume shook his head. “Did I scare you?” I didn’t receive an answer this time, so I took it as a yes. I sighed and stepped back. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to kiss you a little more. I didn’t mean-“ 

“I’m not scared.” Kozume said and peeked back at me. “You… That was just too much, Futakuchi, so just…” he looked away again and squatted down with my shirt clutched in his hands to hide his face. “Give me a minute, okay?” 

I blinked with wide eyes. “Oh… oh! Haha! Oh, well, I mean. It’s a natural reaction, Kozume. There’s no need to be embarrassed by it.” I kneeled down behind him and playfully tried to sneak my hands around his sides and got elbowed for it. Still laughing, I stood up only to go around to Kozume’s front and knelt there instead. I placed my hands on his knees as I smiled at how cute he looked hiding like this. 

"Kozume... I won't do anything you don't want. If that means that all you want are kisses, then I'm happy to give them." I said, hoping it would ease his uneasiness. 

Kozume peeked up at me again, his hands still gripping my dirty shirt to the bottom part of his face. "Really? You won’t force anything? Because I doubt I would be able to outmatch your strength if you did." 

I nodded, "Haven't you figured it out yet?" 

Kozume tilted his head slightly in question. 

I smirked, "I'm at as much a loss here as you are. Until last night, I hadn't even really thought about kissing someone or anything that comes along with it." 

Kozume made a disbelieving face at me. "You say that, but I highly doubt someone with your looks is pure in mind." 

I pursed my lips to hold back a grin at being praised. "Careful, Kozume. My ego is easily inflated." 

He snorted, and idly started drawing designs with his eyes over the backs of my hands. "Come on. You can't think I will believe you're that pure. Not after that kiss you just gave me. You've never once thought filthy thoughts about a girl... or guy?" 

"Hmm..."

"What about your manager, Mai? She's pretty and you two are close-"

"God no!" I said a little loudly, and flinched at my own voice carrying through the room and hallways. "I mean... No, not Mai. She's like an little sister." 

Kozume stared up at me, waiting for me to actually answer his question. 

"If you must know... I had a crush on a girl in my first year of high school. She was a senior, so it would have never worked. My first crush was in fifth grade, and the first time I saw a porno mag was in middle school, and-" 

"Did you think about kissing her? or touching her?" Kozume asked. “Like the way you’ve kissed me?”

It took me a second, but I realized Kozume was asking about the senior I liked. I shook my head, "not really, I just thought she was pretty." 

Kozume glanced away a second, “what did she look like?” 

“Hey, if you’re jealous, there’s no need to be. It was a brief crush. I forgot about it until just now, actually.” I said and pushed some of his hair back to tuck behind his ear. 

Kozume shook his head, “I’m not jealous, I’m just… curious.” 

“Curious about what exactly?” 

Kozume made a small sound, “about what attracts you.” He admitted and buried his face again. “Forget it. I do sound jealous.” 

I sighed softly, “that girl had long black hair, and... wore glasses I think. I can’t really remember the details.” I glanced away for a second. My eyes moving down to Kozume's shoulders and the sharp angles of his collar bones peeking out. "I'm normal, Kozume. Of course I've at least thought about kissing and sex. I just never wanted to act on any thoughts. Before high school I was all about hanging out with Aone and Mai. I used to like anime a lot, too. I didn't take my activities in volleyball seriously until high school, and then that's all I thought about. I had no time to think about girls." I tilted his chin up again, “or other guys.”

I kept my eyes on Kozume’s face even with his looking away from direct eye contact. "You're the first person I've thought about like this and wanted to act on those thoughts." A smile touched my lips, "so you can imagine how happy I am that you wanted to kiss me back last night and again today." 

Kozume lean forward suddenly and nuzzled close to my face for a second before he kissed my lips briefly. "I'm happy you asked me first, Futakuchi." 

I kissed him back, “and thank you for accepting my offer.” I held onto his knees and I nudged closer, this time Kozume was ready for my advance and reached up to hold onto my shoulders as I pressed my lips to his. When he fell backwards onto his butt, I crawled forward still and recaptured his lips as I slipped a hand under his shirt. When I felt his hand grab and resist, I turned my head to whisper near his ear. “You aren’t the only one here who wants to touch.” 

Kozume squirmed as I rubbed my hand up his side, pushing his shirt up as I did. “O- okay, but-“ 

I nuzzled down further to his neck, “just say the word if you don’t like it. I’ll stop, I promise.” I proceeded to push his shirt up until he let me pull it off. I’d seen him in the showers before, but up close was something new. Kozume definitely had the body of a guy, but it was like his genes just barely played fire in androgyny. He felt soft and hard at the same time. “Amazing.” I whispered.

Kozume tried asking me what I meant, but I ignored him in favor of kissing his lips again before giving into one of my whims of kissing down his neck. Before either of us could think better of anything, I licked out and tasted his skin over the pulsing artery in his neck. 

"Fu-Futakuchi, no. You can't leave any marks." Kozume sighed when I stopped moving waited until I gave up and lifted my head. He giggled when he saw the exaggerated pout on my face, too. "Don't. You know the others will see when I'm in the bath, and you've seen how nosey my teammates are about my private life." 

"Mmh." I sighed and hung my head down again, this time I just leaned my forehead to his shoulder. "You're no fun. I just know you're captain would shit an entire brick firehouse if he knew you have someone who wants to leave those marks on you."

Kozume grew quiet for a while, and he moved his hands up my arms to toy with my hair at the back of my head again. It was becoming obviously that Kozume had a fancy for my hair at least. He was always touching and pulling it. "... If I say 'not yet' will you wait?" 

I blinked up at him and nodded before I had even thought of a real answer. "Of course. I told you already that I won't do anything you don't want."

Kozume smoothed his hand lightly over my cheek and kissed me. "Thank you." He showed me a smile, and I suddenly realized how rare it was to actually see him really smile. 

I pressed closer and captured his lips once again, kissing him deeply until he sighed and melted in my arms. I really liked how he did that; how he just released his will to my whims when I kissed him. 

"Mn. Futa-" he pulled back only enough to be able to speak. "Futakuchi, don't start this again or my efforts to calm down will be for nothing." 

I giggled and pressed three small kisses to his lips before I finally let him go and stood up first to pull him up with me. "Fine, I'll behave." 

Kozume stuck his tongue out at me before pushing me back so he could turn and walk away. "I'm starting to think you're the incorrigible type." 

I smirked, "only when I want to be." I took his spot on the desk from before, and watched Kozume walk a few feet away, still holding my shirt and his own now left in the floor. He went to stand by the window and did a little survey outside before he pulled my shirt on over his head. I cocked an eye at him in the oversized white T-shirt. "What are you doing?" 

"Hm?" Kozume looked back, "checking to make sure no one is nearby." he said innocently. 

I got up, picked up his discarded shirt from the floor by the desk and threw it over my shoulder as I walked over to stand by the window with him. "I mean... isn't that shirt a little big for you, Kozume?"

He grabbed the edges of the shirt and spread it out as he looked down. "Yeah, but it's comfortable." Then he did something I hadn't expected and it sent a strange thrill up my spine. Kozume picked up the shirt from his chest and brought it up to smell it. "and it smells like you, so I decided I wanted to steal it." 

Chuckling, I stepped forward and placed my hands on his hips. "You want my shirt over having me yourself?" 

He shook his head, "No, but this way even when we go back it'll feel like you're close." Kozume was sometimes too honest for his own good.

I slid my hands up under the shirt so I could feel his warm soft skin underneath. "Okay, that was a good answer. I'll keep your shirt in return I want a goodnight kiss from you tonight." I watched how Kozume's hands moved up my arms, it was like his body simply reacted to my touch on its own.It was a wonderful sensation. "Should we be concerned about someone thinking it weird you're shirt changed?" 

Kozume shook his head, "Not really, I have a lot of oversized shirts because I like them. Most of my own are about the same size you wear." 

I hummed as I grazed my fingers up to his ribs. "That's good, then I'll let you add my shirt to your collection." 

Kozume looked very please that I was now giving him the shirt and I couldn’t help smiling when he stood up on tiptoe to pull me into a kiss. 

"Mhhn," I slowly parted our kiss, lingering to press more kisses to his soft lips. "If you're that happy over a sweat soaked shirt, maybe there's something more I can give you to make you happy." 

Kozume shook his head and settled back down, but his hands once again remained around my neck to toy with my hair. "No, this is more than enough, Futakuchi, thank you." He moved up to kiss me again, but at that second we both heard the distant tweet of one of the coaches whistles. It was the five minute warning for everyone to come back from where they wandered off to. 

"Damn! Has it really been an hour already? Looks like our time is up until tonight." I said and Kozume sighed heavily and hesitated to nod. I chuckled and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Come on, let's go teach some juniors how to play volleyball." 

I climbed out the window first, and helped Kozume after. Although I knew he was more than capable of hopping down the two feet to the ground below, I still found it adorable when he selfishly reached for me to pick him up and set him on his feet. 

"Are you always this spoiled?" I teasingly asked. 

Kozume made a face at me, "Only with people I like." 

My heart fluttered. I knew he meant that like as a way of getting his way, but hearing his say he likes me, even in passing, made me feel amazingly proud. As we walked up the slight incline towards the gym, I leaned over to sneak one last kiss in. 

Kozume blushed, "Stop that, someone could see us." 

A teasing grin surfaced, "It's not like you resisted." 

"Of course I didn't resist, I want you to kiss me." His voice lowered and in a whisper he added, "...all the time." 

This time I kissed his temple softly before whisper close to his ear, "I promise I will give you as many as you want later when we can be alone again." 

Blushing deeply and gripping my shirt tight around his body, Kozume nodded in answer. When we reached the back of the gym, he paused. "Split here?" 

I almost didn't understand what he meant, then I saw someone walking at the front part of the building. "Oh, you mean split up and arrive back separately. Yeah, yeah, I don't mind." I reached out to smooth my hand along his neck where I had kissed his earlier and left the lightest of kiss marks that would surely disappear soon. I smiled when Kozume tilted his head without hesitation to give me more room to touch him. Nudging him back against the wall of the gym, I tilted his head up until his eyes met mine. 

Kozume looked so trusting in me, and it felt really good to know that he does trust me even a little. "One more, before we go. Please?" I asked. 

Kozume's hand came up to hold mine against his cheek before he nuzzled down into my palm. "One more." He replied in a whisper.

With permission I bend my head down and pulled him up into another kiss. I heard his voice leak out when I sucked lightly on his upper lip. I hummed and tried something new. I licked along the underside of his upper lip this time and Kozume gasped. When I felt Kozume's hands push on my chest even the slightest, I pulled away. I stopped the kiss but kept close, peppering tiny kisses over his lips as an apology simply because he didn’t resist them and always kissed back.

"You-" Kozume hummed, "You said- Nh, only one." he protested even though he was still letting me kiss him. 

"It is one kiss, just... several layers of one." I laughed when Kozume swatted my shoulder for the lame excuse. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Just one." I quickly snuck in another kiss. "That one." And moved back in time to avoid being hit again. I laughed when Kozume missed and growled at me. 

"Not funny, Futakuchi. What if someone sees?" he whined. 

I smiled, "If someone sees us together I'll still regret nothing." I replied without hesitation.

Kozume's eye avoided contact as I watched his face grow red again, and after a few seconds he stepped forward, put his hands on my shoulders, and pulled me down into a short but sweet kiss. I slipped a hand up to touch his cheek. "What was that for?" 

Kozume stared, but his eyes lowered again when he spoke, "... For making me smile."


	9. Mai

Before I could respond we heard another whistle and both of us looked towards the front of the building. No one was there, and we were late. "Whoops, no time to be stealthy." I said and grabbed Kozume's hand to start running along the side of the gym. Just before we reached the entrance I slowed and let Kozume's hand fall from mine. 

I looked back when I felt my hand being grabbed again. It was obvious what Kozume wanted, but he couldn't ask for it. Smiling, I leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. "Okay for real, last one. Ready?" 

Kozume let go of my hand and nodded with a flushed complexion. I entered first, and Kozume was right behind me. Everyone was already inside and getting ready for the afternoon practices. Spotted, Kozume's extra long teammate yelled his name and ran for him, but Kozume deftly dodged him with a cringing groan. 

"Would you stop that, Lev? It's annoying." Kozume growled. 

"But Kozume-san! We couldn't find you! We looked all over during lunch." Lev cried actual tears and stood back up. 

Coaches Oiwake and Naoi came over. Oiwake spoke first. "That's right, Futakuchi. Your team also expressed concerns about your disappearance. I didn't know one of Nekoma's was missing, too. We are guests here, explain yourself." 

I looked between the coaches and the many other pairs of eyes watching from a distance. Then I looked at Kozume and gestured towards him. "I wasn't missing, I was with Kozume. He was just showing me around Nekoma's Campus during lunch. It's so much bigger than Dateko, so I was interested." 

Naoi seemed to accept that explanation, and looked a little proud that I gave praise to their school. However, Oiwake wouldn't be so easily swayed. "For all of the lunch break? You two were walking around the school?" 

"Yes-" I stopped when I felt a slight touch on my back as Kozume stepped forward. 

"I..." Kozume clench a fist in hem of the shirt he stole. "I offered to show him, m-my phone died so I was bored." 

Coach Naoi could probably be given a snake by Kozume, be told it's a frog, and accept it. He smiled and patted Kozume on the shoulder. "Well aren't you being extra social today, good for you, Kozume-kun! Keep it up!" 

Since Naoi didn't seem to see anything wrong Oiwake sighed and accepted our excuses for being late as well. "This sets a bad example, Futakuchi, be more aware. Those guys out there count on you." 

I stood a bit straighter and bowed slightly to my coach as an apology. "I will, Coach. I'm sorry." 

Oiwake crossed his arms. "As punishment for being late do five diving laps. That should get you two warmed up to play again. Aone will take over for you for now." 

Naoi nodded, "Sounds good, hop to it boys!" 

We both said "Yes, Coach!" at the same time and separated briefly. I walked over to tell Aone he would take over for now and Kozume went to put his phone away. 

Shohei was at Kozume's side before he even had his phone out of his pocket and held a hand out. Without hesitating, Kozume handed over his phone and Shohei took it over to a wall socket to charge it on a chord already plugged in the wall there. Kozume was moving away when Shohei called out to him. 

"Kenma?" Shohei said and Kozume look back. "It says your phone is as 67%..." 

Kozume stiffened and glanced around before finally just panicking and put a finger to his lips in a silent 'shh' motion. "J-just put it in my bag, Sho."

"But you said-" 

"Shohei, please-" Kozume moved close so all he had to do was whisper. "Don't tell anyone I lied..." 

Shohei gave his friend a peculiar look, "Okay... but why did you lie?" 

Kozume's cheeks flushed, "because... I wasn't giving Ken- F-Futakuchi-san a tour, okay?" 

"What were you-" Shohei blinked, "since when are you and the Dateko captain on first name basis?"

"I-..." Kozume sighed and stood up again. "I'll tell you later... just not right now." Kozume turned around and ran away to where I was stretching my shoulders as I talked to Sakunami, Shohei staring after him the whole way. Sakunami had come to ask me what happened to my shirt. I had your shirt tucked into the back of my gym shorts since I couldn't wear it. I just gave the simple excuse that it was hot. 

"Hey, are you ready? I waited-" I noticed the look on his face, like he was suddenly scared of something. "You okay, Kozume?" 

Kozume nodded but didn't say anything. He stretched quickly and started doing dives right away. 

I caught up to him quick and slowed my pace to stay even with him. "Hey, did something happen? You look like you're ready to crawl out of your own skin." 

Kozume paused enough to shake his head, but waiting until we had dove to the back of the gym where there were fewer people to speak. "Shohei found out I was lying. Then he asked some very pointed questions..." 

"Questions about what?" I asked. 

"About you. Shohei is quiet and normally a laid-back guy, but he analyzes things so it's like he already knows-" Kozume stopped before the next dive and I lost the pace with him. I stopped after my dive and looked back. "Kenji, I had no choice, I told him I would tell him later." 

I still wasn’t used to hearing my name, but it felt nice that Kozume was using it so easily after all that fuss earlier. I waved my hand a little and Kozume crawled the few feet forward towards me. "Are you scared for him to know about us?" 

"Not... not really, I just- I don't know how anyone would react to it. I don't think Sho will be upset, but still... I'm not sure I'm ready." Kozume sat up with his legs curled on either side of him and his arms hugged around his own torso. 

I wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him, but knew I couldn't, not here at least. "Koz- Kenma, I'm scared of the same things, but if you want me to I can go with you when you talk to him." 

Kozume looked up. He eyes searching my face before he sighed softly and nodded. "Please." 

"Of course. After all, I'm half to blame, too. Right?" 

Kozume snorted and rolled his eyes as he stood up, "no, you are 100% to blame." He accused and drove forward. 

I gasped exaggeratedly, "What? Sir, I'll have you know I am a perfect gentleman, and always share my blame with others." I moved to catch up again.

"I don't think you quite grasp the concept gentlemanly charm, Kenji." He paused to wait for me to get at his side again, and gave me a look a lot like before he kisses me. "But you are gentle, so that counts for something." He whispered.

I loved his compliment, but a playful smirk still appeared. "Just wait until you get to know me more." 

"Wha-" He was cut off by me diving ahead of him this time. "What's that supposed to mean, Kenji?!" 

I laughed and looked back, "You'll have to wait and see, little Kitty~" I smirked again when Kozume blushed shyly over the nickname. 

"My name's not 'little kitty', you giant tease." Kozume caught up this time and kept going. 

"Awe~ don't be mad." I giggled, "but you're still cute; like a little angry kitty cat."

Kozume was blushing hard when he glared at me. "Stop that! Ugh, I think I'm going to retract my earlier compliment." 

I started laughing but was cut off my Oiwake yelling my name across the gym. 

"FUTAKUCHI! IF I SEE YOU CHATTING AND NOT DIVING AGAIN I'M DOUBLING YOUR PUNISHMENT!" 

My mind was still switched on to my overly rambunctious teasing side and I sat up to yell back. "Ahh~ Don't tempt me with such promises, Oieake~" I hugged my arms and wiggled while making a feminine, or as feminine as I could, moaning sound, "it's too much for me to take~" Everyone either burst into laughter or stared at me in shock that I spoke to my coach like that.

"YOU- YOU! SHUT UP AND GET BACK TO WORK!" he turned his attention to everyone else, "ALL OF YOU!" Even the other coaches were laughing now.

I chuckled, Oiwake was too easy to tease because he couldn't handle anything suggestive. I looked back at Kozume and he was staring at me with a hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh at me as well. "What? I'm only a little masochistic." 

Kozume snorted and shook his head, "No, you're definitely a sadist in disguise, Kenji. I can't believe you said that to your coach." 

I stood up to get back into diving position. "Like I said, wait until you get to know me better." I grinned and dived ahead. 

I was ahead of Kozume for a while, but slowed more in the last few laps as encouragement for him to keep going. He didn't have the kind of stamina I had, but I didn't mind taking it slow for him since five laps was pretty harsh in this heat. On the last lap we were definitely warmed up as much as the people playing in matches, and at the finish line Kozume just half-dived sloppily and stayed on the floor where he landed.

I was sitting up against the wall with my eyes closed when I heard a soft whine. Looking down, I caught sight of Kozume pulling my shirt up to sniff it deeply, but he looked sad afterwards. "Is something wrong?" 

"Yeah... You're shirt smells more like my own sweat now." he pouted as he relaxed on the floor again. 

"I'm sorry?" I chuckled, "I'll give you a new one later if you want. I brought plenty of extras, though I don't know why you'd like the smell. My laundry just smells like my laundry detergent to me." 

Kozume sat up, still pouty and shaking his head. "No, not the detergent smell, it just smells like you do, and I like it. I-I've liked your scent since I woke up surrounded by it yesterday." 

We both jumped when heavy water bottles hit the floor behind Kozume. Mai had come over to give them to us, but Kozume was turned away and I had been too focused on his expressions and what he was saying to notice anything else. Both of us stared up at her with wide surprised eyes, and she stared back with a look of pure shock on her face. 

"Ha- hahaha! What was that coach? Go refill all the bottles, yes sir right away sir!" Mai laughed nervously after her completely made up excuse before she ran robotically out the door nearby.

Kozume's eyes were refilled with the same fear as earlier when he looked back up at me. "Kenji-" 

I breathed and held a hand up to stop him from panicking too much. "Don't panic, Kenma, I'll go talk to her, okay? We have some time before the match rotation." 

"But she..." Kozume didn't relax at all when I patted his shoulder. "Kenji, she looked horrified." He whispered in a panic.

I moved up onto my knees, still sitting. "She did, didn't she?" I smiled, "but I know her, I think if I just talk to her she will understand." 

"Really?" Kozume asked with a sliver of hope showing. He hands moved like they wanted to reach out to me, but he kept them just barely in check. 

I nodded, "just like you have hope Fukunaga-san will understand. Just wait here, okay? Unfortunately, I don't think I can wait until tonight to talk to Mai." With Kozume's nod I got up to go find Mai. I heard her before I saw her. She was out around the side of the building pacing and chanting "Oh, my God" at different intensities.

"... Mai?" 

Her eyes shot up and she was immediately stomping towards me with enough aggression to make me take a step back. "Kenji! Please! Tell me I just heard wrong! Haha! What did that even mean? No, don't tell me! I don't want to know." She shook her fists and stomped backwards in a circle only to face me again. "What the hell was that, Kenji?" 

I patiently waited for her to throw her fit, and breathed deeply when she finally did calm down enough to actually let me get a word in edgewise. "Mai... You and I have known each other for what? Six- Seven years now?" 

"Yeah? So?" 

"I'm just making sure you remember how long we've been friends first." 

"Why? Just tell me what exactly I just heard." she complained and crossed her arms. 

I was silent while just trying to figure out how to say this. Mai got a little impatient with waiting though, and I sighed, "you didn't hear anything wrong." 

"What did that guy mean, though? He 'likes the way you smell'? What the hell even is that?" She couldn't just ask one question at a time, but it was the way she was asking that was starting to make me think this wasn't about to go over well. 

"Are you angry?" I asked quietly instead. 

Mai's movements stalled, and she blinked a few times before she took a quick breath, "sorry, Ken... Don’t make that face, okay. I think I'm just really surprised." 

I nodded, relieved she could at least calm down some to listen as well. "Well, I guess I can't blame you." I leaned on one leg and crossed my arms in front of my chest. Not in an aggressive way, but just needing a bit of a shield if this still didn't go well. "Before I say anything, can you just promise not to gossip about it?"

Mai looked as if she already knew what I was about to say and sighed for it. "Yeah, sure. I won't say anything outside the circle." She put her hand out; thumb pointing upward, pinky pointing down, and index pointing at me. 

I couldn't help smiling now, I made the same sign with my hand towards her. We touched index fingers and pinkies together. Then rotated on our pointers counter clockwise until our pinkies pointed to ‘3 o'clock', and finished it off with a simple fist bump. It was a silly secrecy handshake she, Aone and I came up with when we were little kids. None of us had used it in years. "I can't believe you remember that." 

"Of course, I do. I still hold onto secrets as well." Mai said proudly. 

I smiled and sighed, "Okay, well. Literally what you heard Kenma say-" 

"First name basis, okay." Mai interrupted with her sarcastic comment. 

I chuckled, "he was talking about the morning of the first day here. He and I were apparently the last to wake up so the other guys played a prank and piled all the pillows on us. I didn't even know he was there until he emerged from the pillows beside me-“ I glanced away with a smile. “It was kinna cute." I cleared my throat, "so that's what he was referring to." 

Mai blinked, "aaaand... why is he telling you how much he likes your B-O?” She ignored my side comment about Kozume being cute. “Ohh... Now I know why you've been shirtless since lunch, he has your shir-" she suddenly gasped hard and maybe even mentally seized. "Ohmygod! You two disappeared- Oh, God! Ugh! No! Don't picture it! You stupid idiot DO NOT picture it!" She was yelling at herself now and hitting her head with both palms. 

I could only wait for her to come to terms with her own imagination. "If it helps, it's probably not as bad as what you're imagining." I said with my hand up by my mouth, my fingers pushing on my cheek as I watched. 

Mai stopped, kept her eyes closed and jabbed a finger at me, "SO not helping, Ken!" 

I giggled and waiting until she was ready to hear the rest. I pulled Kozume's shirt from the back of my shorts to show her she was right and the shirt I had been carrying would never fit me. "He sort of stole my shirt before we started heading back." I folded my arms again with the shirt hanging over my shoulder. "I'll spare you the details, but uh... yeah. Me and Kenma sort of have something going on. To be honest, it was sudden and I'm not actually sure what it all even means yet." 

"Wait, wait. You two are close enough to be on first name basis and sneaking of to do only God knows what for an hour, but you don't know what is means?" She snorted, "Ken, that's called 'd a t i n g'." 

I felt heat wash up my neck. "N-no, I mean... I know that." I rubbed my jaw. "I know I like him, and I'm pretty sure he likes me, too." 

"I hear that ‘but’ coming." Mai arched a brow at me.

"... but I can't be more aware that there is a high chance of not seeing him again after this week." I sighed and re-crossed my arms tighter. My eyes hovering off to the side, not seeing anything as I thought about the harsh truth. 

Mai stared at me, "wow..." 

I glanced back towards her, "What?" 

"No, it's just... I've never seen you like this." She said and took a step forward. "When I saw you two together earlier I thought, 'Oh, nice. Ken made a new friend and he looks happy', but I never thought I'd see you so..." 

“See me so what?" 

"Lovestruck." She giggled, "I'm also really surprised to find out that you play for the home team. There's going to be a lot of heart broken girls at school." 

"Well, I don't think I ever really had a preference for girls or guys- wait, a lot? Who?" I was honestly surprised to hear that.

"Oh, come on. Girls confess to you all the time, Ken." She had her arms crossed again like mine. “I’ve walked across that scene more than once, I’ll have you know.”

"Yeah, but I don't know them, so I wasn't interested." I defended. 

Mai snorted, "You didn't know Nekoma's setter either until two days ago." 

"... True. I guess it's just different with him." 

She smiled and leaned closer to whisper up at me. "Just admit it, Kenji. You really really like this guy, don't you?" 

I wasn't normally one to be shy, but that is definitely how I was feeling right now. "I- ..." I breathed slowly, "I think I do." I looked up and started rubbing a spot on my upper arm, "he seems scared of anyone finding out. Right before you found out someone from his team also started asking questions and Kenma said they are supposed to talk about it later." 

"Oh... Will he be okay?" she asked. 

"I'm not sure, but it seemed like maybe it'll go over well… Maybe." maybe it was optimism after things turning over well with Mai, but I didn't feel all that scared about it. 

I was still thinking, so I hadn't noticed Mai going quiet as well until she snickered. "Uh oh." 

I blinked up at her, "What?" 

"Hehe, I think I should be going back now." she said. 

"Oh, yeah. I gotta tell Kenma he doesn't need to worry." 

Mai giggled again, "I don't think that will be necessary." 

"Huh? Why?" I tilted my head slightly.

She pointed behind me and whispered, "I'm pretty sure he already knows." 

I followed where her finger was pointing and just barely visible at the corner of the build was a foot and an elbow. Leaning out to the side, I saw yellow hair and felt my heart malfunction. Spinning back I around I covered my face. "Oh, damn. How much do you think he heard?" 

"I can only assume that he heard all of it." She was giggling when she saw how red I was becoming. "It is definitely my queue to leave, Ken." She left me while I was still pretending Kozume was hard of hearing. When she passed Kozume who was sitting with his face buried in his hands and knees pulled up close. Mai giggled again, "you can have him back now~" she teased. 

I heard Kozume let out a whiny groan from here at what Mai said, and that was nearly my same reaction as well. A while passed by after Mai left and went back inside. When Kozume didn't move, I had no choice but to approach him first. I walk up to the corner of the building and crouched on the other side. 

"... Kenma?" 

Kozume's voice sounded calm, but he didn't move, so it was muffled. "I thought about it, too. Every time you have kissed me, I wonder if it's even worth letting myself get attached. If doing this now is worth it knowing you're going to be leaving when this camp is over. Miyagi isn't exactly close.” 

“There’s the possibility of seeing each other during competitions." I added uselessly.

When Kozume lifted his head his face was very red. I can swear he looked close to tears, but they never fell. I reached out and buried my fingers into his hair at the nape of his neck. I nudged with my fingers, lightly pulling a couple of times until Kozume simply moved on his own. He turned and crawled on his hands and knees around the corner and immediately climbed into my lap. He hugged me tightly around my neck and it only made me squeeze my arms around his body that much tighter. 

I nuzzled my face down to his shoulder; hiding. "I like you. I really don't want this to be some summer camp fling. This has been on my mind the moment I decided that I wanted to kiss you." 

Kozume moved his hands to my face and made me lift my head. "Honestly..." Instead of words he kissed me. His fingers caressed up my cheeks and into my hair line over my ears, then as he pressed closer, kissing me more on his own as he slide them back to tangle in my hair at the back of my head. 

"Mhn..." I felt a blinding shiver scatter up my spine to pool and tingle in the places he touched me. 

"I like you, too, Kenji." Kozume whispered when he pulled away and looked up at me. "and just so we're clear, I'm not that scared of people finding out or knowing. I'm just scared of the repercussion, their reactions. Two men together isn't exactly universally accepted, and…" 

That reality made me sigh heavily. "I know. I understand." I looked up, "It'll always be a scary thought that the next person to find out about us will chastise us. Mai was just a special case."

Kozume nodded. "So what do you want to do now?" 

"Right now?" I looked up towards the sky, "well, we should go back inside, actually." when my eyes met Kozume's again, I smiled. "And I also want to give you my phone number." 

Kozume climbed off my lap and stood up in front of me. "I agree, I don't think I can handle any more dives right now." He held his hand out for me to take. 

I put my hand into his, and when he pulled I didn't help at all with getting myself off my ass. When Kozume failed at pulling me up on his own I burst out laughing and stood up. 

"That is so not funny!" Kozume snapped, but still had a small smile hidden behind a pout. "That was mean, Kenji."

"Hehe, I wanted to see if you could do it." I laughed again as we started walking back. 

"I could if you hadn't completely dead-bodied me like that." Kozume complained. 

When we reached the doors, I paused to let him step up before me. "And now I know if I fell off a cliff, and you were the only one holding me, I would have a swift death." 

Kozume spun around and hooked his hands on his hips. "Don't even tease about that, Kenji. Death isn't funny." We were inside, the first losing team was just getting ready for their punishment round. A few people were nearby, including Mai, and they heard what was just said. Their expressions were a range of confused and curious. 

"I'm sorry, you're right. My bad." I stepped up beside him and patted his shoulder, lingering on a second longer to squeeze and knead my fingers in gently. This made Kozume wobble like his knees just went weak. "I'll see you in a bit, okay? Dateko seems to have lost and I actually do have to do another lap of dives." 

Kozume loosely crossed his arms as he half turned to watch me walk with a soft sigh. "Good luck. I do not envy you, though." 

"Haha! Thanks." I called back over my shoulder before half jogging over to where everyone was lining up to do their punishment round together.


End file.
